ComScore released a report last week that showed a dramatic jump, 47 percent, in internet search for the term iPhone in April, 2008, as word of the iPhone 3G circulated on the Internet. About 1.3 million people conducted 6.9 million searches for iPhone-related terms, a significant increase from previous months.

"Speculation had been rampant in recent months that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was getting ready to introduce a 3G iPhone at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9, and indeed he did just that," said Dan Lackner, comScore Senior VP. "Search is frequently a harbinger of purchase intent. 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."

In order to put that 6.9 million number into context, TMO contacted comScore for some background, namely the numbers for the preceding months. Mr. Andrew Lipsman provided those numbers, and they're shown in the chart below.

Searches in millions

Mr. Lipsman noted that the number of people doing the search remained about the same, 1.3-1.4 million, but the number of searches increased considerably in April as word spread of the international appeal and possible features in Apple's 2nd generation iPhone.

Also of note was the disproportionate share of the click-thrus that were attributed to Google. "Of the iPhone-related searches that generated click-thrus, the vast majority (88.4 percent) occurred on Google search, 33 percent higher than one would expect given Google's share of total Internet search click-thrus. All other search engines generated a lower percentage of iPhone-related clicks than their respective shares of total search clicks."

ComScore offered an explanation for that effect: "This is a prime example of the importance of using consumer behavioral data when designing and evaluating search marketing campaigns," added Mr. Lackner. "We've seen many times that different search engines perform better for particular brands and products, and in this case, Google appears to be the preferred choice for iPhone searchers."