iPhone 3G Buzzing – Nielsen Online, Hitwise Issue Stats

July 11, 2008

This article is included in these additional categories:

Email | Media & Entertainment | Paid Search | Retail & E-Commerce | Social Media | Technology | Telecom | Women | Youth & Gen X

With Apple’s iPhone 3G scheduled to go on sale today (July 11), Nielsen Online?and Hitwise provide a host of iPhone-related statistics: Judging by search terms being used, consumers are interested in more than just price – such as the 3G network, release date, applications and plans, Hitwise said.

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Nielsen Online’s BuzzMetrics data shows that iPhone-related online buzz has been growing in early July, as it did with Apple’s software update announcements in January and March and the iPhone 3G release announcement in June:

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“iPhone buzz is through the roof. One out of every 100 new blog posts is about the iPhone – more than Barack Obama or John McCain. And while the blogosphere may pay special attention to new technology, this buzz underscores the important role the iPhone is playing in raising awareness of and interest in multimedia phones,” said Nic Covey, Director of Insights, Nielsen Mobile.

The weekly share of visits to the website of exclusive iPhone service provider AT&T Wireless is up 30% for the week ended July 5, 2008 compared with the week prior to last year’s iPhone launch, Hitwise said.

Last week’s AT&T Wireless site traffic level was second only to the week of Christmas (week ended Dec. 29, 2007) and ranked as the second-highest week in traffic over the past 24 months.

Demographics of iPhone website visitors

The plurality – some 34.75% – of visitors to the Apple iPhone website for the four weeks ended July 5 were users age 18-24; more than 54% of users to the website had incomes between $30,000 and $99,999; and 51% were male, according to Hitwise demographic data.

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Compared with the previous (iPhone) launch week, in 2007, US visits to the iPhone website from users 45 and older have increased 11% while those of users with incomes $60K -$150K have increased 9%. The US visits from women are up 2% compared with the launch week in 2007.

Additional data from Nielsen (as of Q1 2008)

What’s in store for the iPhone 3G?

  • Nielsen Mobile reports that 3G networks can improve data transfer rates by about six times over 2G and 2.5G networks, on average.
  • Although some consumers may be frustrated at the mandatory in-store activation of the new iPhone, just 15% of current iPhone owners say they bought their phone online, compared with 68% who said they bought theirs in a store.
  • 30% of smartphone users are likely to upgrade their device in the coming year.

How many iPhones are already out there?

  • Nielsen Mobile estimates that there are 2.3 million US mobile subscribers using an iPhone.
  • The iPhone accounts for 1% of all embedded mobile phone users in the US.

How is the iPhone faring?

  • HTC (25.2%), Research in Motion (23.4%), and Palm (19.3%) continue to lead the smartphone industry in market share, with Apple (11.6%) in fourth place..
  • Apple iPhone users report the highest overall satisfaction scores among major smartphone manufacturers.
  • 8% of recently acquired devices by AT&T subscribers were Apple iPhones.

Who is using the iPhone already?

  • Two-thirds (67%) of US iPhone users are male (compared with 48% of all mobile subscribers).
  • 55% of iPhone owners are under the age of 35 (compared with 34% of all mobile subscribers).
  • iPhone users tend to be more affluent with 63% earning above $75k (compared with 38% of all mobile subscribers).
  • 24% of iPhone owners are Hispanic.
  • 9.7% of streaming video users and 4.9% of mobile internet users own an iPhone.

What features do they use?

  • 75% use the phones MP3 player.
  • 68% use the Wi-Fi functionality of the phone.
  • 76% send email over their phone.

How do iPhone users consume mobile media differently?

  • 37% of iPhone users watch video on their phone (making them 10 times as likely as the average mobile consumer to do so).
  • 82% access the internet over their phone (5 times as likely as the average mobile consumer).
  • 17% stream music over their phone (7 times as likely as the average mobile consumer).
  • 20% play online games on their phone (9 times as likely as the average mobile consumer).

Business or pleasure?

  • 15% say their company foots the bill.
  • 24% say they use their phone for business, but pay the bill themselves.
  • 61% say they are a personal user.
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