For the past few years, I have not only been a Sirius Satellite Radio subscriber, but also one of its biggest fans. Sirius replaced the unmanageable amount of mix CD’s that littered my car and put all the music and entertainment in one small piece of equipment. Sirius has also changed the way I listen to music at work. On in the background all day, Sirius Internet Radio provides me with the soundtrack to my daily life. While some days call for an upbeat tempo with Sirius Hits 1 and some days require a more mellow choice like Cinemagic, my channel of choice is Howard 100. And who can blame me - the home of chaotic entertainment that is amusing day after day, providing everything from the ‘Wack Pack’ to Robin’s News. I wanted to know if others shared in my loyalty to Howard 100 when listening to Sirius Internet Radio, and if not, what are the subscribers listening to?

To do this, I looked at the population of Sirius Internet Radio listeners and then analyzed what channels they are tuning into during a month. Keep in mind that one listener can fall into multiple buckets throughout the month. Here’s what I found:

• Howard is King: 28.4% and 16.1% of Sirius Internet Listeners tune in to Howard 100 and Howard 101, respectively. Just like in his days of old on terrestrial radio, Howard Stern continues to be the most listened to channel.
• Rock and Pop lead in the music categories: Sirius Hits 1 commands the top music channel with 10% of Listeners heading to this channel. However, while people are tuning in to hear the latest pop hits, just as many people are tuning in to listen to the two classic rock channels (Classic Rewind and Classic Vinyl).
• While not on the list here, Sirius NFL Radio does break into the Top 10 listened to channels during the NFL season. 9.3% of Sirius Internet Unique Listeners listened to Sirius NFL Radio in September ‘08. This was #4 overall!
• Online listeners love their caroling: Sirius XM Pops and Cinemagic, two channel dedicated to Holiday music, were in the Top 10 listened to channels in December ‘08. Cinemagic was the 2nd most listened to channel in December ‘08 with 14.2% of Sirius Internet Listeners listening to Holiday music. The top channel was still Howard 100.

With a large percentage of listeners tuning into Howard 100 and Howard 101 on SIRIUS Internet Radio, what will happen to Sirius XM Radio if Stern were to leave at the end of his contract in 2010? Howard Stern commands a large audience, many of which might cancel their service if Stern were to leave at the end of his contract. As Internet Radio continues to grow, Stern’s next move could be to bring his own channel to the World Wide Web. I can see it now, the Stern Internet Radio iPhone app being the biggest app of 2011.

Depending on your vantage point, a netbook might look like a small laptop or a large Smartphone.

The dual nature of the netbook may be marking a period of increasing convergence between computers and wireless phones. Companies that traditionally make computers are manufacturing netbooks and beginning to plan or consider moves into the Smartphone market. Wireless carriers are beginning to sell discounted netbooks tied to wireless broadband contracts. AT&T is now selling the devices in some of its stores and through RadioShack, while a Verizon Wireless rep recently confirmed rumors that they would offer a similar deal in the future.

Changes may be brewing in the consumer electronics and wireless industries, but when consumers searched for netbooks online in early 2009, where did they go? To find out, I looked at search data from compete.com.

This chart shows the top 10 sites that people were directed to after going to a major search engine and looking up a term that included the keyword ‘netbook.’ The sites are ranked by the percentage of all traffic generated by searches including the keyword ‘netbook’ that went to a particular site. What’s interesting here?

• Third party review and information sites have a strong presence in the top 10, including CNet, Wikipedia, Engadget, and the netbook-focused liliputing.com.
• Big brands’ sites are not as prevalent as they are for searches on ‘laptops’ where Dell and HP are the #1 and #3 destinations. Other netbook manufacturers like Asus and Acer don’t appear in the top 10 sites by keyword share for terms including ‘netbook.’
• Few retailers and no carriers appear in the top 10.

So these ‘netbook’ searchers are going to retail and manufacturer sites, but many are visiting third party review sites, blogs and information sites like Wikipedia to learn more about the devices, likely because heavy marketing and media reports on netbooks are a relatively recent phenomenon.

These data also suggest that there is opportunity here for big brands to have more of a presence when it comes to keyword share. Dell’s relative strength in this area compared to other big brands is likely due, at least in part, to strong marketing in early 2009 around its Inspiron Mini line, featuring it prominently in some promotions around their Presidents’ Day sales.

As new players enter the market, beef up their marketing campaigns, receive more press coverage, and step up their search marketing, we’re likely to see some changes in where these searchers land online. Will they gravitate to manufacturer sites? Carriers? Third party reviews? Stay tuned.

For the past two years, consumers and the media alike have ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed over the iPhone. And rightfully so. The sleek design, unique interface and ease of use were characteristics not frequently seen in the US cell phone market before 2007, and drew significant traffic to Apple’s website.

But, two years later, traffic to BlackBerry’s website has slowly overtaken Apple’s online iPhone traffic. Is the love affair with the iPhone over?

Generating website traffic is important for any online business, but it is crucial for cell phone manufacturers. The vast majority of consumers do their online cell phone shopping at carrier websites (AT&T, VZW, etc.). The manufacturer has very little direct connection with the shopper and thus less influence on their purchase. For cell phone manufacturers, developing a strong online presence that is independent of carriers is an important step in creating and sustaining a dialogue with shoppers and enhancing their overall interaction with the brand. All manufacturers are working to achieve such a presence.

The chart below shows traffic to U.S. phone-specific portions* of each manufacturer’s website between July 2008 and February 2009.

As you can see, it is typical for phone manufacturers to see a bump in traffic when one of their high-profile devices launches.

• Apple: 77% increase for the iPhone 3G
• RIM: 37% increase for the Bold and Storm
• HTC: 559% increase for the T-Mobile G1
• Samsung: 92% increase for the Instinct and again in late November for the Behold

What is remarkable here is RIM’s performance. Although the launch didn’t generate a traffic bump as dramatic as some others, they were able to sustain that online momentum over the last eight months. Lifts for the other manufacturers were larger, but temporary. This trend is likely driven by RIM’s execution of a well-conceived strategy.

First, RIM decided to reinvent BlackBerry as a consumer brand, not just a work device. They have embarked on several major promotions since Spring 2008, including the ubiquitous “Life on Blackberry” campaign. Other manufacturers mainly focus advertising specifically around device launches, and not so much as a branding tool. RIM has clearly stepped up its total advertising spending in both areas.

Second, they hyped the BlackBerry App World a LOT. “Blackberry applications” was the fifth most popular search term driving traffic to blackberry.com during Q1, and the App World didn’t even launch until April 1st!

Finally, they keep it fresh. We’ve only seen one iPhone release per year, and of course it’s the only phone made by Apple. RIM had a suite of popular devices launch in 2008 (Storm, Bold, Curve and Pearl on new carriers, Pearl Flip) to constantly keep their name in the news and in consumers’ minds.

What others can take from RIM’s example is the notion that, despite the hype, Apple and its iPhone are not actually invincible. Others can compete, and even conquer, the breakthrough device if they build compelling products, design smart promotional strategies and take the time and, yes, money to execute to perfection.

Who’s up for the challenge?

*We say ‘phone-specific’ to normalize for traffic that may visit Samsung.com to learn about TVs or apple.com to buy a laptop. It helps to make comparisons more “apples-to-apples.”

Almost everywhere I turn, I see an iPhone: at work, on the soccer field, on the street. My boyfriend and Mom both have them. Clearly these devices appeal to a lot of people, and we’ve heard the iPhone described as “more than just a phone” by owners. But what does that mean? How else are people using their iPhones?

We explored these questions in the most recent fielding of Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence survey. Two areas where iPhone owners really used their devices differently from other Smartphone owners are coincidentally two of my favorite pastimes: shopping and travel!

Our latest results showed that iPhone owners are using their devices more than other Smartphone owners to help them make purchase decisions while they shop and to manage logistics/get information when on the road or considering travel.

Let’s start with a look at how Smartphone owners use their devices to shop.

The top half of the chart looks at the percentage of people who use their device to look at 3rd party product reviews when considering a purchase, while the bottom half looks at the percentage of people who use their device to check the price of item they are considering.

iPhone owners were about twice as likely to perform both of these activities, and do so much more frequently than other Smartphone owners.

Let’s look at the findings around travel. More than three quarters (77%) of all Smartphone owners said that they will either be planning or taking a trip in the next 6 months, the majority (81%) for leisure. We found that iPhone owners in particular used their devices in the planning and logistics of their trip.

The chart above shows the likelihood of respondents to use their mobile device for a variety of travel related activities during their next trip. The red bar represents iPhone owners, the blue bar other Smartphone owners . We can see that iPhone owners are more likely to use their device to help them with their travel plans in every way we asked about. For example, over half said it was likely they would use their device to get local information and check their flight, compared to about a third of other Smartphone owners.

Shopping and travel are two clear examples of how iPhone owners use their devices differently than other Smartphone owners. Even though iPhone owners are more likely to describe themselves as “technically savvy” than other Smartphone owners, we’ll be investigating how (and if) their behaviors change as more and more applications stores are launched in the months ahead. Still, one thing is for certain: the iPhone is more than just a phone.

If you want to learn more about Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence product, please contact Danielle Nohe or Dave Kalil to arrange a meeting. Look for Danielle and Dave at CTIA (April 1-4).

The Smartphone market is an increasingly crowded place. After Apple’s success with the iPhone from 2007 onward, more companies, from GPS manufacturer Garmin to PC manufacturers like Acer and Asustek, are throwing their hats in the ring.

In January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), wireless industry pioneer Palm announced that they were launching a new Smartphone, called the Pre (pronounced like “tree”). Since then, we’ve heard relatively little about the Pre, beyond the occasional launch rumor, and the sporadic report suggesting both Sprint and Palm have a lot riding on the success of this device.

Still, despite a weak economy, no solid release date, little advertising, and a crowded Smartphone marketplace, it doesn’t seem like the Pre has faded from consumers’ minds. Traffic on just the informational pages on Sprint.com and Palm.com since CES suggest that a lot of people are curious about the Pre.

• Unique visitors to Pre information pages on the manufacturer and/or carrier site(s) alone have been hovering around the 100,000 mark for the last seven weeks.
• Interest in the device around CES (week of January 4th) was high: nearly 400,000 people checked out one or both of these pages.
• A median of about 1.6x more visitors have visited Palm’s site over Sprint’s so far for information about the device. This may be in part because the Pre information pages on Palm’s site are more robust at the moment, including pictures of the Pre’s functions, as well as video.

This traffic is all despite the fact that neither Palm nor Sprint has consistently featured the Pre in a prominent way on their site since the announcement. For example, as of Tuesday afternoon, although there was a front page link on the Palm site, it was far below a feature for the Treo Pro, which launched this week, and the Pre was not mentioned on the Sprint.com homepage.

To gauge consumer interest in the Pre relative to other Smartphones, the original iPhone is perhaps the best example. Like the Pre, the iPhone was announced well before it was launched. When we look at interest in the original iPhone on Apple.com and AT&T’s website around the same time in 2007, we see different numbers, but a very similar pattern.

A few similarities between the two charts stand out.

First, in the case of the iPhone, the majority of the traffic throughout the period shown was also going to the manufacturer, Apple.com. In fact , AT&T didn’t have information about the iPhone on their site in the first week shown on the chart.

Second, although the numbers were higher for the iPhone than the Pre, the Pre’s numbers are fairly strong in comparison, especially when you factor in how much buzz surrounded Apple’s first foray into a Smartphone market that was much less crowded in early 2007. Online interest the week that the iPhone was announced resulted in 600,000 visitors to the information on Apple.com, about 50% more than the aggregate traffic we saw to the Pre on Sprint.com and Palm.com.

Although we don’t know yet how strong Pre sales will be, and eclipsing the phenomenal popularity of the iPhone would be a difficult task at best, it looks like the Pre may be positioned to have a fighting chance in a very challenging marketplace.

The application store rush is definitely on. Since the success of the iPhone’s App Store, Nokia, the Google Android Market, and the Microsoft Skymarket have all followed suit. Even PC manufacturer Acer has said they are looking into the viability of an application store for their new line of Smartphones.

News that Blackberry was planning an application store of some kind has been circulating for a while now, but few details were available. As an avid Blackberry user, I’ve been looking forward to App World for some time. Applications have been featured on blackberry.com for a while, but on nowhere near the scale of the iPhone App Store. There are other sites where you can find both paid and free applications, but no centralized place to go.

In the first week of March, I got an email from the manufacturer announcing that Blackberry App World was coming, inviting me to sign up to get updates. There are even some “App World” pages up on the site now, but no evidence when I visited the site of a big impending launch. Intrigued, I decided to investigate how popular the Blackberry site is today and if it is actually a destination for people looking for applications to add to their devices.

Blackberry.com has become an increasingly popular site in the last 12 months, with traffic growing more than 140% and visits per person increasing by 16% year over year.

People are heading to Blackberry.com in large numbers; most wireless device manufacturer sites have been getting fewer than a million each month. So, I took a look at the site to see what information about App World is actually available now. Of course, it hasn’t been officially launched yet, but there is actually some information about what it is and developing applications on the site. However, this is not easy to find: you have to click on “Software” and then on the “Blackberry App World” menu item, which isn’t highlighted and appears below a link to “Applications for Blackberry Smartphones”.

Even if you were one of those people who, like me, signed up for updates and got the email (pictured below), the call to action was clear, but you had to scroll to the bottom of the message to get to the registration link, in contrast to the large button used on the same graphic on their website.

The prospects for App World also look pretty good because the manufacturer’s site already seems to be the destination of choice for many people searching the web for apps. Looking at search data on where people who typed “Blackberry application” into one of the major search engines, it turns out that about a fifth of them are already heading to Blackberry.com.

Considering the number of people who are already going to Blackberry.com and their propensity to go to the site while in search of applications already, it’s likely that traffic to App World will increase in the coming months. In the meantime, I’ll still be searching far and wide on the web for new Blackberry applications.