Measuring Google Trends: Nokia Phones Edition
I’ve been playing around with Google Trends for the past couple of days. For the uninitiated, Trends sums up the popularity of search phrases over time with a nice graphical chart. People seem to be going gangbusters over the N900 right now, but are they really?
First up, a chart comparing the popularity of five devices:
The N900/N97/N95/Booklet 3G/Droid Popularity Contest
Nokia N900
Nokia N95
Nokia N97
Nokia Booklet
Motorola Droid
Looking at the data from the past five years, it’s easy to tell when these phones came out, and just how big they got. From this chart, you can see the following:
- The N95 is the king of the bunch – search results for the smartphone exploded from mid 2006 to mid 2007, and have gradually waned since then. Makes sense, since the N95 remains one of Nokia’s most successful smartphones.
- No one seems to give a crap about the Nokia Booklet. It barely registered on the chart.
- The N97, Nokia’s most recent flagship high-end phone looked to be following the same path that the N95 took.
- The Motorola Droid’s initial surge was equal to the N97′s.
- Comparing the Motorola Droid to the N900: the Droid was initially far more popular than the N900, but after leveling off they’re practically even. I’m not sure what this means considering the Droid is a USA-only device, while the N900 is a global one. Although if the N900 continues on the same path as its predecessors, it hasn’t even come close to its peak yet.
So what happens when you bring the iPhone into play?
Throwing the iPhone into the mix.
Pretty cool. With the exception of a couple sharp spikes in popularity, the iPhone’s traffic has actually been pretty consistent compared to the competition.
