Neil Hughes
Dominant search platform Google on Tuesday released its annual list of the most popular subjects sought by its users, and Apple's flagship iPhone 5s appeared third on the list, showing intense interest from consumers.
Apple's third-place finish was revealed in Google's annual Year-End Zeitgeist list, which ranked the top 10 global trending searches of 2013. The iPhone 5s finished behind first-place Nelson Mandela, the South African civil rights revolutionary who passed away earlier this month, and second-place Paul Walker, the Fast and Furious actor who died in a car crash a few weeks ago.
The other smartphone appearing in the top 10 was Samsung's own flagship handset, the Galaxy S4. It came in 8th, just ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3 game console.
The rest of the top 10 subjects, finishing after Apple's iPhone 5s, were: Cory Monteith, Harlem Shake, Boston Marathon, Royal Baby, and North Korea.
Apple's performance on Google's trending searches in 2013 improved over 2012, when the term "iPad 3" ranked fourth. Last year, the third-generation iPad finished behind Whitney Houston, Gangam Style, and Hurricane Sandy.
The company had three top 10 searches in 2011, when the subjects of Steve Jobs, iPad 2, and iPhone 5 (which would actually become known as the iPhone 4S) were all ranked.
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22 Comments
So if those two hadn't died, the iPhone would have been the most searched for?
Suck on that Google!
[quote name="sog35" url="/t/161215/apples-iphone-5s-ranks-as-third-most-popular-google-search-of-2013#post_2447085"]I find this VERY hard to believe. Mandela/Walker is VERY recent news. How could it overtake other searches that have been going on the entire year? This must just be for the last month or several months. [/quote] Who else died earlier in 2013 that should top Nelson Mandela and Paul Walker?
I would have thought that Boston Marathon, Royal Baby and iPhone 5s would have topped Paul Walker... which makes me believe these results are top weighted to more recent trends.
[... or US weighted]
#3, that's high. And considering Android users don't browse the web much, this is al the more weird. Possibly Windows users finding something to ogle at work.