Apple gained an extraordinary amount of online attention both before and after the announcement of the iPhone 3G S, says Nielsen Online. The tracking organization notes that Apple's website drew in 55.7 million unique visitors in May, despite the absence of a major new product. The figure was more than two and a half times the number of visitors attracted to the next biggest tech manufacturer website, belonging to HP.

When the 3G S was formally unveiled on June 8th, Nielsen observed that almost 0.6 percent of approximately 100 million blogs, forums and other online social sites became engaged in discussion of the device. That figure plummeted rapidly with the arrival of June 10th, trending towards a short-term low by the 13th. Numbers returned to a secondary peak with the launch of the 3G S on June 19th, and have since settled into less dramatic rises and falls. As of the 29th, the phone's popularity was closer to 0.2 percent.