According to comScore, traffic to Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) website rose sharply from March to April. Unique visitors rose from 27.3 million to 38.8 million, a fairly stunning rise for such a large website. The increase made Apple the 13th most visited website in the U.S.
What the comScore data does not give is any explanation. The news is undoubtedly good for Apple, but why?
The two most visible new products at Apple are the new Apple TV and a promotion for the iPhone.
Anecdotal evidence says that the sales of the Apple TV are off to a slow start. According to Business 2.0: "...Checks with Best Buy reveal that the No. 1 U.S. electronics retailer's own foray into Apple TV sales has turned up a relatively low level of interest from shoppers thus far -- in some cases leaving stores with the majority of their initial allotments. 'We did receive three Apple TVs, and still have the same three,' said a contact within one Best Buy store. 'Not selling too well at our store.'"
That would leave the iPhone as the probable driver of new traffic. And why not? The anticipation of the phone, which is scheduled to go on sale in June, has stirred a tsunami of press attention. Apple's website traffic may be another indication that the product launch create more demand that is expected.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2007 @ 5:35PM
Michael Schneider said...
Apple has gotten a lot of publicity- much of it free- for the new products and many reviews have been very positive. That has probably ignited interest in the Web site. Also more people have been buying Macs and the Apple commercials for the Mac are very popular and funny. A sampling of reviews of Apple's new products- mostly positive are available in the Apple Channel (left side, green label) at http://www.Barrelomoney.com.
5-12-2007 @ 5:39PM
Michael Schneider said...
Correction: The Apple Channel (green label)is now located toward the middle of the front page at http://www.Barrelomoney.com.
5-13-2007 @ 11:11AM
vimpy said...
The great expectations are through the moon !! I somehow sense this would have a hard fall.. I know iPod and iPhone is no iPod. Blackberry is !! If I were to shell $500-600 I would rather buy the Blackberry which is the iPod equivalent of Phone's !! Also other players like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony are not sleeping. With Microsoft's WindowsMobile platform, Blackberry.. this is not going to be a cake walk for the apple like it had with iPods. For iPods the target maket was youth, but for iPhone, and iTV, it is totally different target market.. Also iPhone is a totally different ball game. Also I heard the battery in the initial models for iPhone is going to be terrible (not enough to play the music player for more than few hours a day, so that is going to be a big sure stopper for all those who would have thought of this as an iPod phone !!
5-13-2007 @ 10:56PM
shane floribus said...
COMMON SENSE tells me Steve Jobs has an unrevealed trick up his sleeves that won't be revealed until the the WDC. The accelerometer technology used in the iphone I believe has a dual purpose. My guess is that if I can think of this, then all those brains at Apple should have figured this out during development.....Long time ago.... If you think about how the Wii operates you will figure it out. If you were using the browser on the iphone reading a news article fo example, like most PDA's the screen is so small you constantly have to move left or right to read. Good thing about the iphone you can use your fingers on the touch screen to slide left or right. This is already a leap up above PDA's. But I believe there is more... the iphone will give you an option to use the accelerometer technology for this. Imagine while sitting on a chair you are holding the iphone about 12 inches from your eyes in front of you. Now if you decide you'd like to move the screen towards the right, your hand would hint to the right and the rest of the news article would appear instantly. Up, down, left , right. Even easier than two sliding fingers. And last thing is... why just use this great technology for simply knowing if the screen should be up right or in widescreen???? I'm guessing the Apple minds are creative enough to exploit the "accelerometer". DON'T YOU? And by the way YES, I do own Apple.