If it's easy, and it works, high usage shouldn't be a surprise

With interest, I read recent accounts of Google's new mobile leader, former MSFT exec Vic Gundotra, exclaiming his shock that iPhone users sent fifty times the number of queries to Google than other mobile device users. "We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again,” he relayed to the Financial Times.

Yet, when I discussed this theme with former colleagues at Google and others, no one else seemed as moved or surprised as Gundotra, nor did they think it was the result of anything new the Google mobile team had done. Instead, I hypothesize, there are two reasons for the high query numbers:

a) iPhone hardcoded Google queries right into the navigational chrome of their mobile browser. When using iPhone's browser, you have two navigational options. You can either enter a URL or directly search Google. Because the iPhone spellchecker does not autocorrect entries when entering 'Net addresses, it is often easier just to enter a query and navigate by the results. The traditional process of using Google on a mobile device used to be

1) launch mobile browser and wait for carrier homepage to load
2) direct browser to google.com (or m.google.com or the like) and wait for page to load
3) enter query

iPhone's configuration reduces this to one step

1) enter query (browser is already on and queries will be directed automatically to Google)

Mitigating all of that user effort and creating a concrete funnel for queries would very predictably increase total search volume, and hats off to whomever on the Google partner team secured this placement. However, I think the more important aspect is the second half of this equation, the browser itself.

b) iPhone users have access to a full Internet browser allowing users to surf anywhere, even if slowly. Having higher confidence that search results pages will be accessible and readable has dramatically inclined users toward querying in the first place. In the same way that Flash finally made users feel comfortable clicking on video links, iPhone users feel increasingly sure that the page resulting from their search will be worthwhile, despite the relatively slow network connectivity.

I am no Apple fanboy and I will not heap unqualified praise on the otherwise closed device Jobs and AT&T launched. Forbidding the download and installation of third party applications is something against which I have rallied consumers and lawmakers. However, I will give credit where credit is due.

Until this year, American consumers have known their mobile devices almost exclusively as a means for 1) making calls 2) sending texts and MMS 3) buying ringtones and, 4) in the case of Blackberry devices, sending and receiving email. Thanks to the iPhone, Americans are now realizing they have the Internet in their pocket. 

Comments

[onefamiliarwithgoogleormaybenot]

vic has been embarrassing for many of us here. not sure if we could expect anything different coming from msft.

[BWJones]

I can't tell if you are an Apple fanboy or not from the way you seem to go through iPhones. :-)

[Sacca]

Ha! Believe it or not, I declared the death of my current iPhone a little too early. It is on life support to be sure.

[Keller]

I got a great cameraphone. I jacked it from a kid from New Zealand---I think his name was Brett.

[Ben]

I huge reason why I broke down and got an iPhone! I truly have the internet in my pocket!