Few tech companies can tap into the zeitgeist like Apple does. Another excellent example of this has been the hype build-up leading up to the iPad 2 launch. People just couldn’t stop talking about it.
Of course, with the first iPad being such a popular product, interest in its successor has been growing rapidly over the past few months, and speculation has been running rampant.
You know how we love proper data, so here is a graph showing the interest in iPad 2 leading up to the March 2 announcement (based on Google search stats):
The above graph paints a clear picture even though it’s missing the last week or so from February (which would have shown an even sharper spike at the end), but how does that compare to all the other noise that’s out there on the Internet?
Turns out it compares very, very well.
Conquering the zeitgeist
Tech products very rarely end up in Google’s “hot searches” list (a daily top list of fast-growing searches on Google), but boy are people interested in iPad 2.
Here are the results for the hottest searches for March 2 (courtesy of Google), the day the iPad 2 was officially announced. Note that the iPad 2 has not one, but two placements in the top 20 searches.
And today, March 3, still morning in the United States, iPad 2 is still on the hot list:
That the iPad made it onto this list is a testament to how big yesterday’s announcement really was.
What about the iPad killers?
If you’re wondering how the public’s interest in other tablets, existing or upcoming, compare against the overall interest in the iPad, the below graph might give you an idea.
We picked a few well-publicized tablets, like the Motorola Xoom, RIM’s Playbook, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and HP’s Slate. As you can see, they barely make a dent compared to what Apple has been able to do with the iPad.
So for now, Apple’s iPad really has no competitor, at least not in terms of public awareness. If HP, Motorola, RIM and other companies with tablet ambitions are secretly, insanely jealous of Apple’s iPad buzz, we won’t blame them…
This is a game Apple plays better than any other tech company out there.
