iPhone, not Britney, leads searches on Google

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

December 5, 2007, 3:14 PM

Following the release of Yahoo's top searches for 2007, Google released its own -- with decidedly different results.

None of Google's top ten terms were the same as Yahoo's, which were led by troubled pop starlet Britney Spears and the wrestling league WWE. Whether it was just a different formula or a totally different type of user base, Apple's iPhone led the way.

The Cupertino company's first entrant into the mobile space also led the list of fastest growing search terms worldwide during the year. That is not much of a surprise considering the device was nothing more than a rumor in 2006.

Second was the stuffed animal that customers can play with online, Webkinz, followed by the celebrity gossip site TMZ in third, and toys based on the Transformers franchise coming in fourth.

Beyond that, social networking and media sites ruled much of the rest of the list. YouTube took the fifth spot, while child-focused social networking site Club Penguin came in sixth.

MySpace and Facebook also made it to the list, placing seventh and ninth, while the hit NBC sci-fi show Heroes was in eighth, and late celebrity Anna Nicole Smith rounded out the top ten.

Google said it noticed that topics of celebrity culture, television and movies garnered a lot of interest during 2007.