Americans Conducted Nearly 7 Million Searches for the Apple iPhone in April, According to Comscore Marketer

Google Delivers Disproportionate Number of iPhone-Related Search Clicks

RESTON, VA, June 26, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on “iPhone”-related search terms based on data from the Comscore Marketer service, which showed that 1.3 million people conducted 6.9 million searches for iPhone-related terms in April 2008.

“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.”

Consumers have searched on a variety of iPhone-related topics, but the most common search term, “iPhone,” generated nearly 1.5 million searches. Also ranking high on the list were several terms relating to the anticipated next generation iPhone, including “iPhone update” (151,000), “iPhone 2.0” (75,000) and “iPhone 3G” (60,000).

Top “iPhone”-Related Search Terms
April 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore Marketer

Search Term

Searches (000)

IPHONE

1,488

IPHONE UPDATE

151

IPHONE WEB APPS

118

IPHONE MMS

101

IPHONE 2.0

75

IPHONE 3G

60

IPHONE 2

59

IPHONE G3

43

IPHONES

38

IPHONE SPEAKERS

35

“iPhone” Search Clicks Driven by 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.

Share of Search Clicks for “iPhone”-Related Search Terms
April 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore Marketer

Search Engine

Percent of Search Clicks for Term

Percent of Total Search Clicks

Index

Google

88.4%

66.5%

133

Yahoo

7.2%

20.0%

36

MSN-Windows Live

2.7%

6.9%

39

AOL

1.2%

3.8%

32

Ask.com

0.6%

2.9%

19

*Index = Percent of Search Clicks for Term/Percent of Total Search Clicks x 100; Index of 100 represents parity

“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.”

Paid vs. Organic iPhone Click-Thrus

Not surprisingly, the top destination for iPhone-related searches was Apple Inc., which attracted 17.5 percent of all search click-thrus. Of those click-thrus to Apple Inc., 16.5 percent were the result of paid search and the remaining 83.5 percent were from organic search results. Google Sites, which host significant iPhone-related content on YouTube and Blogger sites, ranked second with 8.8 percent of iPhone-related click-thrus, nearly all of which came from organic search results. NetShelter Technology Media, which owns several Apple and iPhone-specific content sites, ranked third with 8.4 percent.

Among the top ten destinations, AT&T, Inc. – the lone cell phone carrier for iPhones in the U.S. – had the highest proportion of their search clicks coming from paid links (42.8 percent). Several of the top ten sites had no paid search strategy, but still managed to generate a substantial share of total clicks through organic results.

Paid vs. Organic Click-Thrus for “iPhone”-Related Search Destination Properties
April 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore Marketer

Destination Property

Percent of Total iPhone-Related Click-Thrus

Percent of Click-Thrus to Destination Property

Paid

Organic

Total Clicks

8.77 MM

0.61 MM

8.16 MM

Apple Inc.

17.5%

16.5%

83.5%

Google Sites

8.8%

0.7%

99.3%

NetShelter Technology Media

8.4%

0.0%

100.0%

AOL LLC

6.5%

0.0%

100.0%

Gawker Media

5.1%

0.0%

100.0%

CNET Networks

3.7%

0.0%

100.0%

AT&T, Inc.

3.3%

42.8%

57.2%

International Data Group

3.1%

0.0%

100.0%

Yahoo! Sites

2.7%

1.3%

98.7%

ILOUNGE.COM

1.8%

0.0%

100.0%

To request more information on Comscore Marketer, please visit:

http://www.comscore.com/marketer/info_req.asp

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com