The new iPhone 3G is nearly 2 weeks old now and the high demand & enthusiasm for the new device has yet to die down. I’ll openly admit waiting in line waiting 3 hours and 20 minutes on the first day which seemed crazy until I heard reports of those waiting over 5 hours to get their hands on one. So far that wait has been worth every minute; especially with the addition of the application store (I personally heart Urbanspoon). I have been curious to see which applications are the most popular, so I have been checking the lists in the iTunes store and search behavior within our Hitwise Search Intelligence.
I ran a search term suggestions report for the phrase ‘iPhone app’ to get a sense of which applications consumers were searching for outside of the iTunes interface. Last week, social networking, instant messaging, and radio applications were very popular along with the game Super Monkey Ball, which has been prominently featured in the application store and receives many favorable reviews. Other applications that work with Twitter were also being searched along with the NYTimes application. A few brands are also coming up frequently in search that do not as of yet have official applications (although the services can be accessed through other applications) are for the two popular photo-sharing websites Flickr and Picasa, as well as Internet phone service provider Skype.

The non-branded iPhone applications being searched include video recording and photo/mms texting topped the list as well as utilities like turn by turn driving directions, account number management, budgeting, and calendar syncing.

Since their launch, the applications have been receiving lots of attention – and rightly so, but iPhone users are also seeking ways to personalize their iPhones with ringtones (free is particularly popular of course) and wallpapers.
Do you have a favorite application yet? i am dying to try Super Monkey Ball & GoSkyWatch Planetarium.