Apple iPhone misses top 10 holiday wish list

Toronto (ON) – If you thought the iPhone was a safe bet among Americans for a most wanted Christmas gift, think again. A survey released today, the appeal of the fancy phone may have lost traction and is not part of the current top 10 and is ranked behind products such as laptops, digital cameras, the PS3 and HD players.

According to the released of the study conducted by Solutions Research Group (SRG) among 1200 American consumers, the iPhone is the 15th most wanted Christmas gift this year. It comes in well behind other usual suspects and well behind other Apple products as well : SRG said that Apple’s hottest products this year will be laptops, ranked #11 overall and #9 among women.

Interestingly, the iPod is also absent from the top 10. However, the research firm noted that when combined, Apple-branded technology products make it to the top 5 overall with one-in-six considering purchase, suggesting strong potential holiday season for the company.

If SRG is right, then flat-screen HDTV will be the most attractive gift in this year’s holiday season, followed by Windows-based notebook computers and digital cameras. The list is rounded out by desktop computers, mobile GPS devices, cellphones, digital video cameras, Nintendo’s Wii, Sony’s PS3 and Blu-ray/HD DVD players.

In video gaming, the Xbox 360 misses the top 10 with a survey result that puts the console at #12. According to SRG, this is likely due to unique survey results by gender. Sony PS3 and Xbox 360 were on the top 10 list of men but did not make it to the top 10 list of women. On the other hand, TiVo/DVR and Apple laptops were in the top 10 for women but did not show up on men’s wish lists for the holidays.

The ranking also reflects a computer trend that goes more and more into the direction of mobile systems. Notebooks were preferred over desktop PCs 2-to-1 in the age group of 18-34. There aren’t many consumer electronics technologies that truly have arrived in the mainstream and appeal to both genders and people across all age groups. In fact, SRG found that there is only one gift that can be found in all top 10 lists generated : Digital cameras were ranked #2 or #3 in all age and gender groups. GPS devices are following this trend and were ranked #5 among men and #7 among women.