Search activity around this announcement was different than in years past as news and “leaks” about the new iPhone 5 have been ongoing for more than a year and a half – well ahead of the 4s launch. As we noted last fall, it was widely (and incorrectly) speculated that the iPhone 5 would be released when instead the iPhone 4s was launched. As you can see below, searches on the term iPhone 5 were higher than searches for iPhone 4 in September of last year.

Weekly data shows that the week of the 4s announcement in October 2011 was the peak of search activity to-date for searches around the iPhone 5. Three weeks ago when the iPhone 5 announcement date was made, searches spiked what 239% for the iPhone 5. Perhaps this week’s data will surpass all of those in volume.

The search terms around the iPhone 4s announcement last fall included many iPhone 5 searches as the search “iPhone 5” ranked as 22^nd most popular search on Oct. 4, 2011 – the day the 4s announced.

The top sites to receive downstream traffic on the day of the pre-announcement from iPhone 5 searches included Yahoo News, Apple iPhone, and CNET Reviews and News sites. The Apple iPhone page received the most traffic for last week along with YouTube and AT&T, Facebook and Verizon Wireless. Looking at just the downstream traffic to mobile carriers – AT&T ranked as the top carrier for last week while Verizon Wireless ranked at the top carrier the day the iPhone 5 went on sale.

Follow Hitwise on Twitter for more updates @Hitwise_US.

And now, the rumors are once again driving search activity. A year-over-year trend shows that “iPhone 5” searches were more popular than searches on “iPhone 4” between August and early October 2011, up until the iPhone 4s announcement when the latter term became more widely searched. Search variations around “iPhone 5” have been steadily increasing since the beginning of 2012 and peaked the week of August 18 when searches grew 128% from the previous week as speculation around the next generation iPhone reached a fever pitch.

Source: Experian Hitwise

In the week leading up to the most recent “iPhone 5” search peak, some new search terms emerged including “leaked iPhone 5” which primarily sent traffic to the MSNBC Technology Blog as a result of the site posting photos of the alleged new device. Other popular search term variations were around the release date, including searches on when wireless carrier Sprint will sell the next generation iPhone, along with queries around features and specs, rumors and price.

Source: Experian Hitwise

Among the top websites receiving traffic from “iPhone 5” searches the week ending August 18 were Yahoo! News and Yahoo!, both of which experienced significant increases in search clicks from these terms week over week (+162% and 772%, respectively). iPhone5Release.org, a site devoted exclusively to news on the next generation device, was among the top five sites receiving traffic from “iPhone 5” terms and also experienced a large increase in search clicks over the past week (+402%). The top iPhone-related term sending traffic to the site last week was “iPhone 5” while “leaked iPhone 5” and “iPhone 5 in production” emerged as new terms sending traffic to the site. Only one retailer, Walmart.com, was among the top ten sites receiving traffic from “iPhone 5” terms last week; the site experienced a 222% increase in search clicks versus the previous week and 88% of the clicks to the site were from paid search.

Source: Experian Hitwise

It’s rumored that Apple will announce the new iPhone on September 12, when a smaller version of the iPad may also be revealed. Searches on the “iPad mini” increased dramatically the week of April 21, 2012 when a Chinese website reported on an expected third quarter release of the mini Apple tablet. Searches for “iPad mini” were on the rise again in early July as numerous websites reported information on Apple’s strategy around the device. Walmart was the top recipient of traffic from “iPad mini” searches in the 12 weeks ending August 18th, receiving nearly 10% of downstream search clicks. Walmart’s relatively high share of paid traffic (79%) from iPad mini terms further indicates the retailer is looking to capitalize on the upcoming Apple product launches.

Source: Experian Hitwise

New rumors are popping up daily, and seem to be fueling the growth of Apple’s stock price, as pent up consumer demand is expected to drive significant sales volume if and when the new iPhone and iPad are released. Stay tuned for updates on how consumers react to the Apple announcements on September 12^th to see how they drive online consumer behavior.

Welcome to the future, home of the digital landscape, populated by smartphone users always seeking the newest technologies. For consumers this is a very exciting time, but for businesses it can be a bit daunting. With more and more options available for consumption, how do businesses adapt?

According to ecommerce-guide, 82.2 million Americans own smartphones. They use their phones to search the Internet, compare products and even make purchases. In fact, Neilsen.com predicts that nearly half of all the worldwide sales will be purchased on smartphones by 2013. So how can businesses be successful in this new digital landscape?

To be successful in a mobile world, you must create a mobile-optimized website.

To be successful in the now, think back to what you did to become successful when you launched your first website. It’s time to go back to the basics. To be successful in a mobile world, you must create a mobile-optimized website.

Think about your website now. What are the most popular pages, what path do you want your visitors to take? Picture how your visitors would use your website in an ideal world; now create a simplified version of your website highlighting those strengths. Shorten the text so that scrolling isn’t necessary. Add buttons and calls-to-action so visitors can easily call and email you. Include forms that are mobile-optimized and easy to fill out with a touch screen. By thinking about the consumer’s experience and implementing the things that you would look for on a mobile site, you will place your company ahead of the competition.

Another perk of a mobile website includes a faster site and load time. Because a mobile-optimized website is smaller with fewer pages and less options, it operates at a much faster speed and will create a much more enjoyable experience for your visitors.

In addition to improving the customer experience, it will also be easier for your customers to find your site. Google recognizes mobile sites and increases relevant rankings for people who are searching from their mobile device. Maybe your competition ranks above you on a PC, but if they don’t have a mobile site, then you will rank above them on a mobile device. So someone searching for your service from a mobile device will happily land on your easy to use mobile site.

In order to ensure success in the digital world, be sure to implement the same innovations and safe-guards you would put on your website as well. Invest in an m-commerce platform so that the purchase process from your mobile site is seamless and user-friendly. To account for consumers’ hesitations about buying on a mobile device, be sure to add data quality and security tools to your website and m-commerce platform.

According to a recent data quality study by Experian QAS, of those companies implementing digital techniques and collecting mobile contact data, only 30 percent manage its accuracy at the point of entry. This is worrisome in regards to the quality of the data companies are collecting from these types of sites. As mistakes are more easily made on keyboards and touch pads of mobile devices, companies should be taking extra caution that they are collecting only the most accurate information. By meeting the demands of the digital consumer, companies are broadening their audience. However, not employing data quality tools simultaneously will hurt the competitive advantage they are receiving.

Unlike in “Back to the Future,” we cannot hop in the DeLorean and return to 1985. The future is upon us and in order to be successful, businesses must adapt to the changing digital landscape. To succeed at this, companies need to remember one key thing: go back to the basics. Think about how companies became successful in the dotcom age and apply those learnings to now.

Create a well thought out mobile website. Optimize it for search and m-commerce. Ensure it is safe for users to use. Instill data quality best practices to keep your database clean. Most of all, think outside the box and innovate to remain ahead of the competition.

Source: Experian Simmons

To learn more about Experian Simmons local market estimates here

Given our environment of hyper-innovation, it’s hard not to become myopic focusing on what’s next and how to plan for it. In writing this year’s Digital Marketer (pre-order here) we’ve come to a realization. In our world of fast-paced change, some of the biggest gains can be had by understanding constants versus variables, and the most important constant is the customer.

In the upcoming 2012 Digital Marketer report, as in previous reports, we’ll supply you with a plethora of data around email marketing, social media, mobile and direct marketing. This year, unlike previous years we’re going to focus on understanding the people who buy your products and services. Through tools like our New Mosaic segmentation, data from Techlightenment, Hitwise, Cheetahmail and others we’re going to fuel our new focus – customer obsession.

We will be releasing this year’s Digital Marketer in March, before it’s release we’ve been posting some of our findings and insights here, so stay tuned for more. If you missed our earlier posts, read them here:

Three steps to maintaining a clean email database

Three ways to optimize email for mobile consumers

Tablet sales are enjoying their “hockey stick” moment.  Sales of iPads alone are estimated to be over 8 million units this year.  By next year, the market adoption of tablet devices in the US is expected to reach 13% of households (source: eMarketer).

What does the consumer adoption of tablets mean to retailers?  The peculiarity of the tablet platform blurs many distinctions, and makes it hard to figure out.  Tablets belong both to the mobile category and the laptop category, where they have taken a bite out of PC sales.  Tablets can be likened to the relaxed browsing of a magazine, newspaper or book, but they are also likened to the task-orientation of a shopping cart.

the rich imagery, tactile response, and immersive nature of tablet browsing support novel ways to engage, inspire and interact with shoppers

Whatever the big picture, initial reports consistently show great promise for retailers.  I spoke recently with a leading multi-channel retailer who noted simply, “The tablet is basically a shopping device.”  This luxury home furnishings retailer aims to deliver a distinctive experience across channels – in store, on the web, and now on the tablet.  They have found that the rich imagery, tactile response, and immersive nature of tablet browsing support novel ways to engage, inspire and interact with shoppers.

The tablet is attractive to both the consumer and retailer.  Consumers experience the tablet in one of two modes: 1) window shopping without the hurry or the hassle, and 2) impulse buying to find what you need and get it fast. Retailers are tapping into the powerful capabilities of this new platform with applications that extend the customer experience across channels (print catalog, store, mobile, and web).

Typing is easy on the tablet unlike smartphones, so it readily supports applications with social features like “send to a friend” or post with a comment on Facebook.  Moreover, the wide screen and built-in camera provide a great canvas for application designers to make the catalog experience varied, appealing and useful.  Using the tablet with family, I noticed another interesting aspect of tablets: sitting together on a couch, tablets allow “exploring together” that is unique to this digital medium (reminiscent of sharing a photo album).

Altogether the tablet is a boon for retailers.  According to Forrester Research, tablets have a 4-5% conversion rate compared to PC’s having only a 3% conversion rate. Partly this is because tablet users are more affluent and tech-savvy.  Nonetheless, as tablets move into the mainstream, their benefits will only multiply as retailers further explore their uniqueness.

Today there are still unanswered questions: Should we build a browser app, or a native app?  Should we launch without creating videos first?  Is this a platform for driving store traffic, and so do we need to offer discounts?

With another holiday season already upon us, retailers shouldn’t wait for answers to these and other questions that can only come from experimentation in this new channel.  This is the year to climb on board, because one thing is clear: Tablets are here to stay.  Behold fair maiden, your shining cross-channel knight has arrived!

About the Author

Andy is a digital marketing strategist with Experian Marketing Services.  He brings 25 years of experience in product innovation, ecommerce, business intelligence, and sales enablement to the challenges of marketing in the age of the digital consumer.  His areas of interest include tablet shopping, personalization, mobile apps, and loyalty marketing.

Twitter: @anindaroy

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/anindaroy

Hitwise daily search data from the day of the announcement, October 4th revealed that the top keywords used in searches for iPhone on October 4th included content related to release date, Sprint, and Siri (the “virtual personal assistant” that will debut with the 4S model). Additionally, the variations of “iPhone” combined with the terms “vs” or “compare” highlights that web users were comparing the iPhone 4S with Android devices (specifically the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Motorola Droid Bionic) and the Blackberry Torch.

When compared with previous iPhone releases and upgrades, data from the past three years shows that all searches for “iPhone” peaked the week ending June 26, 2010 which coincided with the launch of the iPhone 4 last year. The addition of Verizon and Sprint in addition to AT&T were also strong drivers of interest.

Thanks to Lauren Rice, Analyst with the Custom Data & Analysis team, for today's iPhone analysis.

Looking at the top search variations last week for all Kindle and iPad terms you can see that ‘kindle fire’ was the top search term overall, twice as popular as the term ‘ipad’.

You can see by charting the top terms the explosion of growth of searches for ‘kindle fire’ and how it overtook searches for ‘ipad’ and ‘ipad 2’.

Back in August when I wrote about Kindle closing the gap on the iPad the search volume for all iPad and Kindle terms was very much in Apple’s favour, with 70% of all searches being for the iPad and only 30% for the Kindle. With the announcement of the Kindle Fire, that gap has narrowed considerably, with the split now 60-40 in favour of the iPad.

Of course, one of the key issues that makes the Kindle Fire so appealing is the price, as Amazon will reportedly be making a loss on each unit sold at $199. Given that Amazon has yet to announces a UK release data for the Kindle Fire, it is perhaps not surprising that people were much more interested in release dates and reviews rather than the price of the tablet. As the individual keywords tool shows 6.05% of all Kindle Fire searches included the word ‘release’ but only 0.60% contained the word ‘price’.

The Kindle Fire does definitely give Apple a credible competitor in the tablet market, especially after the TouchPad was dropped by HP. Apple are set to make a press announcement later today which we expect will be the official unveiling of the iPhone 5. UK Internet searches for the anticipated smartphone have been growing since October 2010 and overtook searches for the iPhone 4 in June 2011.

Searches for the iPhone 5 reached a new peak last week, accounting for 1 in every 1000 searches in the UK. We will be monitoring the changes in search behaviour in the run up to Christmas and will be sharing our findings through the blog, on Twitter and in our webinars.