comScore released a study on “iPhone”-related search terms based on data from the comScore Marketer service, which showed that 1.3 million people conducted 6.9 million searches for iPhone-related terms in April 2008.

“Speculation had been rampant in recent months that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was getting ready to introduce a 3G iPhone at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9, and indeed he did just that,” said Dan Lackner, comScore Senior VP. “Search is frequently a harbinger of purchase intent. The increase in volume of iPhone searches demonstrates just how heavy that interest has been for the next generation of Apple’s popular phone – even when its existence was still just a rumor.”

Consumers have searched on a variety of iPhone-related topics, but the most common search term, “iPhone,” generated nearly 1.5 million searches. Also ranking high on the list were several terms relating to the anticipated next generation iPhone, including “iPhone update” (151,000), “iPhone 2.0” (75,000) and “iPhone 3G” (60,000).

Of the iPhone-related searches that generated click-thrus, the vast majority (88.4 percent) occurred on Google search, 33 percent higher than one would expect given Google’s share of total Internet search click-thrus. All other search engines generated a lower percentage of iPhone-related clicks than their respective shares of total search clicks.

“This is a prime example of the importance of using consumer behavioral data when designing and evaluating search marketing campaigns,” added Mr. Lackner. “We’ve seen many times that different search engines perform better for particular brands and products, and in this case, Google appears to be the preferred choice for iPhone searchers.”

Not surprisingly, the top destination for iPhone-related searches was Apple, which attracted 17.5 percent of all search click-thrus. Of those click-thrus to Apple, 16.5 percent were the result of paid search and the remaining 83.5 percent were from organic search results. Google Sites, which host significant iPhone-related content on YouTube and Blogger sites, ranked second with 8.8 percent of iPhone-related click-thrus, nearly all of which came from organic search results. NetShelter Technology Media, which owns several Apple and iPhone-specific content sites, ranked third with 8.4 percent.

Among the top ten destinations, AT&T, Inc. – the lone cell phone carrier for iPhones in the U.S. – had the highest proportion of their search clicks coming from paid links (42.8 percent). Several of the top ten sites had no paid search strategy, but still managed to generate a substantial share of total clicks through organic results.