Nokia N96 vs iPhone 3G vs HTC Dream T-Mobile G1 For Affiliates

3 weeks ago I invested in the iPhone and it’s fantastic – by far the best phone I’ve ever had and much better than the mid range Sony Ericsson it replaced. This week we hear that the Google Phone otherwise known as the HTC Dream or T-Mobile G1 is coming to the UK at the end of the year.

Pretty confusing times for the mobile industry as nobody really knows which phones are going to be the next big thing.

Traditional mobile manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung etc are not in the slightest bit worried about Google or Apple phones because they are still selling handsets by the bucket load. The iPhone hasn’t made the slightest impression on the charts and never will.

So will the T-Mobile G1 take market share away from the iPhone or will it eat into the sales of handsets like the Nokia N96 (which we’ve just pre-ordered as a work phone)?

As a (semi retired) mobile phone affiliate it’s pretty important that I know which phones are going to be the biggest so I can spend time promoting them.

Normally I use tools like Google Trends to see what search volumes are like and try to predict sales that way. However it’s important to look a the difference between search volume and news volume. For example something like Google Android gets lots of news volume but will lag way behind all the normal phones in sales.

Of course asking your affiliate manager is another good data source, most will happily reveal the predicted top selling devices so you can plan ahead.

BY Patrick Altoft AT 9:59am ON Thursday, 25 September 2008

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3 and has worked in the SEO industry for over 10 years. With experience across some of the worlds largest brands as well as startup businesses Patrick is well known in the industry and speaks regularly at the major SEO conferences and events. Follow Patrick on Twitter or Google+