Samsung reigns supreme in handsets, but Apple’s iPhone continues to pique consumer interest like no other gadget. The easiest way to figure out what consumers want is to comb through logs of major web search properties. Yahoo is out today with their annual top searches and the results are hardly surprising.
The iPhone 5 was the top searched for gadget in 2012: it’s managed to beat Kim Kardashian for the most searched for term overall in 2012. Matter of fact, three of Apple’s gadgets landed at the top of Yahoo’s year in review list. Looking beyond units sold, it’s clear where the public’s heart lies…
The annual Year in Review, Yahoo said, perhaps surprisingly reveals “elections” was this year’s most-searched term across Yahoo properties.
Coming in second, in terms of overall search volume: the iPhone 5.
Apple’s phone was the top obsession in technology, the company writes:
Apple fans queued up once again, this time for the iPhone 5 — “the thinnest, lightest, fastest iPhone” since, well, the last one. Preorders of the iPhone 5 sold out in an hour—or 20 times faster than the previous version.
Apple’s phone is also the smartphone of choice for Yahoo employees.
Such a high interest in the iPhone 5 was partly driven by the widely reported teething problems and the Maps fiasco, the search company asserts:
But the rollout of the iPhone 5 wasn’t entirely smooth. A week after its launch, Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized after users complained about the phone’s unreliable map app, which replaced the popular Google Maps from previous iterations.
The second most-searched gadget in 2012: the iPad.
Sitting at #3?
The iPad mini, which launched about a month ago.
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III handset and Amazon’s Kindle Fire, rounded out the top five list.
Mind you, Apple emerged victorious for the whole 2012Â despite the iPhone 5Â not going on sale until late September. Of course, the cottage industry of Apple rumor reporting may have had something to do with it.
The iPhone 5 was also Bing’s most searched news story and most searched consumer electronics item in 2012, followed by “iPad” and “Samsung Galaxy S III/Samsung Galaxy S3”, according to Microsoft.
2012 most searched tech on Bing. Microsoft must be proud.
I typed in “iPhone 5” into the Yahoo search engine and got 320 million web results.
For comparison, searching for “Galaxy S III” returned “only” 64 million results.
You know what makes Yahoo’s finding particularly interesting?
That the iPhone 5 was more searched for than Kim Kardashian!
Apple’s gizmo also beat out Lindsay Lohan, Kate Upton, Kate Middleton and Whitney Houston in Yahoo’s overall search rankings for 2012, which is calculated based on high search volume and a high percentage spike compared with last year.
“Facebook IPO” was Yahoo’s tenth most searched for news topic of 2012.
Way more people were more interested in Apple’s less-than-three-month old phone than they were in any of these celebrities. As Buster Heine of Cult of Mac puts it nicely, “people want the iPhone 5 more than they want to see pics of Kim Kardashian”.
I think this tells it all,no?