Apple was the top computer hardware manufacturer site in May 2009, likely because of consumer interest in its new iPhone model, which also sent blog posts soaring after it was announced, according to (pdf) a report from Nielsen Online.
Nielsen’s “Consumer Electronics Quick Takes: May 2009” also revealed that the consumer electronics subcategory for hardware manufacturers grew 22% year-over-year, from 57.3 million unique visitors in May 2008 to 70.1 million in May 2009.
Apple led May’s top 10 by a wide margin, with 55.7 million unique visitors and an average time per person of 1 hour and 14 minutes. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sun Microsystems and Nintendo rounded out the top five.
iPhone Drives Blog Spike
Nielsen also said that interest in Apple’s iPhone also spilled over into the blogosphere. Anticipation of the new 3G S model sent blog mentions up 1,226% week-over-week on June 8, the day the new iPhone was announced.
After the initial announcement, Nielsen said buzz dipped but again picked up after the phone became available to consumers on June 19, when blog mentions more than doubled compared with the week prior.
Additional research from SRG recently found that Apple is the top technology brand among women, while a study from Vitrue crowned the iPhone as the top social brand overall.
