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Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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iPhone plans and prices top of mind

July 09, 2008

Previously I wrote about how iPhone features and apps were driving consumer searches during rumours of a launch date in Australia. As we get closer to July 11, it's clear that Australian consumers are now focused on the pricing and carriers for the iPhone as indicated by their search behaviour.

Here's an updated view of my chart where iPhone plans and price specific queries were nearly 5x greater than searches related to iPhone features and apps (week ending 5 July 2008). It'll be interesting to see if consumers remain highly price-conscious about the iPhone right up until the Christmas retail period, or if searches for iPhone applications will become more prominent again.

Australian iPhone carriers

As many of the search queries for iPhone plans and prices included the names of carriers, here’s a more detailed analysis of their respective brands. The below chart compares search queries on the iPhone that either included the term, 'Optus', 'Telstra' or 'Vodafone' - providing a measure of consumer awareness of each carrier.

iPhone-related search queries for Optus, Telstra and Vodafone spiked week ending 14 June 2008 immediately after the announcement, with Optus and Vodafone brands leading neck-in-neck. Telstra’s later announcement that it would also enter the market to sell the iPhone attracted significant media coverage, with search volumes for Telstra iPhone-related queries higher than Optus and Vodafone, week ending 5 July 2008.

iPhone carriers.png