Google Trends Improving for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone 5, but Still Lags iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S

August 23, 2012 01:22 PM

(By Rich Bieglmeier) Last week, iStock wrote a somewhat controversial article regarding a study that links the number of Google searches to future stock performance and earnings. We applied what we learned to see how iPhone 5 searches stack up versus iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s.

We found that interest, as measured by keyword searches based on the product name (i.e. iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 5), showed that iPhone 5 is lagging behind the two previous releases.

If you haven't heard, release date hype heated up on Monday when it was rumored/reported "Verizon has issued an employee-wide vacation freeze from the dates of September 21 to September 30." In other words, all hands on deck, no exceptions.

iStock decided to take a second look at Google search trends to see if there is any improvement for iPhone and iPhone 5 keywords due to recent developments.

There is good news and not so good news in our findings. Once again, we examined the Search Volume index scores for Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K., and the United States.

Except for China, one or both keywords are trending higher this week than last week; however, across the board, the combination of iPhone and iPhone 5 still trails the SVIs a month prior to the release of iPhone 4 or 4s.

This stands in stark contrast to a survey conducted by Baird analyst William Power. According to Forbes, Power says that the numbers "suggest 50 million-plus iPhone 5 units in the U.S. alone, well above current forecasts."

Last week, Power collected the thoughts from 2,000 U.S. internet users and some of the additional findings include:

· 39% believe they are eligible for an upgrade, with another 6% qualifying within three months.

· 45% of the upgrade-eligible group plans on sticking with the iPhone, 31% are unsure, and 22% switching to an Android phone.

· 77% of current iPhone users (different than eligible for an upgrade) plan on buying another one, 18% don't know, and 5% plan on moving to Android.

This will be an interesting case to follow. Wall Street anticipates big things for Apple Inc. (AAPL) due to iPhone 5; however, digital, finger-traffic is telling a completely different story. iStock will continue to monitor the conflict to see which prevails.

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Comments (1)


8/23/2012 11:53:14 PM by Alan Davies Who gives a flick for 'digital finger traffic'? Apple is a commercial business that knows how to make money, and is doing the right thing. I guess you analysts need to write controversial stuff to attract interest, and it's sad that you can actually influence markets occasionally in a short term way, but apart from jerking people around, you really don't change fundamentals. Reply Rating: (4) (4)

8/23/2012 11:53:14 PM

by Alan Davies

Who gives a flick for 'digital finger traffic'? Apple is a commercial business that knows how to make money, and is doing the right thing. I guess you analysts need to write controversial stuff to attract interest, and it's sad that you can actually influence markets occasionally in a short term way, but apart from jerking people around, you really don't change fundamentals.

Rating: (4) (4)