iPhone generates 7m US searches in April

Helped by the hype of iPhone 2.0 platform and a buzz over the pending iPhone 3G announcement, the iPhone generated huge traffic for internet search engines in April. ComScore, which provides market research for advertisers, says 1.3 million Americans conducted 6.9 million iPhone-related searches in April. The word �iPhone� was the most popular term, with nearly 1.5 million searches, followed by �iPhone 2.0� and �iPhone 3G.� The vast majority of those seaches -- 88.4 percent -- went to Google, Yahoo got about 7 percent, with MSN getting less than 3 percent.

Those searches generated a lot of traffic for Apple, which attracted 17.5 percent of search click-thrus. Of that number, about 17 percent were the result of �paid� searches, the rest were "organic" searches. Google�s You Tube and various blogger sites garnered about 9 percent of the total click-thrus, followed by NetShelter Technology Media at about 8.5 percent. NetShelter owns several iPhone-specific sites. The data were collected using comScore Marketer software.

"Search is frequently a harbinger of purchase intent,� said Dan Lackner, Senior VP of comScore. �The increase in volume of iPhone searches demonstrates just how heavy that interest has been for the next generation of Apple's popular phone -- even when its existence was still just a rumor."