Posts tagged Iphone

When Marissa Meyer spoke at SMX Sydney 2008 she mentioned the impact on search from the Iphone. Google saw dramatic increases in searches in June when the IPhone was initially launched and then again at Christmas time, when they knew people would be away from home and mainly for “weather”.

Early numbers reported on IPhone sales were 300,000 on launch. Calling around on Saturday I found most stores had sold out of the 16GB model. Optus and Vodafone reported network issues due to the fact that the network had never had that many signups in such a short space of time. I predict at least 1m IPhones will be sold in the next 3-6 months. Australia has a population of 20 million, around 12-14 million potential customers for the Iphone so thats around 8% adoption in a relatively shor space of time. Say within 2 years 20-25% of users have Iphones.

Will Mobile search be different?

People will search for information. Great! Tell me something I didnt know. Well, its the information that will be different. Small snippets relevant to a current task or need, and more than likely location based, even if that was not your intent. So for example:

• Finding a business telephone number or address, running late for a meeting or checking stock
• Establishing opening and closing times, when running early or late to the shops
• Checking prices or offers, when in the store considering a purchase
• Checking sports scores, when out of town
• Filling up waiting time, waiting for a plane, lets see what I can find.
• Urgent actions, I need to find a hospital in my current location

Note, I have no doubt there will be multiple impacts the Iphone will have on search, this is just he one I have chosen to write about. If you identify others, please leave a comment.

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