iPhone users show affinity for Google searches

By Ed Oswald | Published February 15, 2008, 5:32 AM

Maybe it's due to how easy Apple has made it to search the web via Safari on the device, but the number of search queries on the iPhone are shocking Google.

When Google first saw the results, executives actually asked its engineers to ensure that there wasn't an error in the calculations. The logs were run through again and the result was the same.

Apparently, iPhone users are searching Google at a rate 50 times greater than any other mobile device, officials told the Financial Times this week. These results are giving Google more confidence that cell phones may be the next big revenue stream for the company.

It is not known how much Google is now making in the mobile sector, as it does not currently separate it in its reports, however officials say the division is performing above its expectations.

Mobile chief Vic Gundotra said that if other companies follow Apple's lead, there could come a point in the next several years where mobile search overtakes desktop searches -- an impressive feat indeed.

Even with the success of the iPhone, the company is still focused on its own platform. "We want every phone to be a Google phone," Gundotra told the paper. "We are ultimately talking about thousands of devices."

If that's the case, it's not out of the question that Google's dominance could extend from the PC to the cell phone very soon.