Potential iPhone customers browsing at the AT&T Website tend to ignore other possible choices, suggesting that the iPhone, unlike competitors, is really considered fundamentally different than any other handset, according to Compete on Thursday.

The question was raised at a recent CTIA session as to whether interest in the iPhone has diminished. Elaine Warner set out to take a look at the numbers.

Referring to the published chart in her blog, Ms. Warner wrote, "As you can see, at its launch the iPhone behaved quite differently than other mobile phones in AT&T’s portfolio. Over 500K unique visitors to AT&T’s website researched the iPhone during the week beginning June 24.

"During the same week, 12% of iPhone viewers also viewed another handset on AT&T’s site. In comparison, 30% of online shoppers for AT&T’s most-popular phone (iPhone excluded) view the next most popular AT&T handset. This is a significant contrast to typical wireless shopping behavior, and suggests that consumers do not view the iPhone as comparable to any currently available handset. Do consumers view the iPhone as in a category by itself?"

Since curiosity may have been a factor at launch, Ms. Warner looked at the data for September and October 2007. While the peak of curiosity was not there, the tendency by the iPhone-curious to ignore other options remained. "Regarding cross-shop, only 6% of iPhone shoppers also viewed another AT&T handset during the week beginning October 21," Ms. Warner noted. "It looks like iPhone shoppers still have their blinders on."

The data suggests that, whatever the cause, the iPhone is considered by customers to be in its own category of mobile phone. That’s very good news for Apple from a marketing and sales standpoint.