Microsoft announced yesterday its answer to the iPhone and Android devices: Windows Phone 7. After initially releasing Windows Mobile 10 years ago, Microsoft has finally embraced the new smartphone philosophy. It threw away the stylus and created a completely new, finger-friendly UI, coupled with an OS that enables easy integration with Microsoft services Xbox Live and Bing, as well as social networks such as Facebook.

Windows Phone 7 is a sprawling mobile platform that, by year’s end, will power about a dozen devices, from four manufacturers, spanning 60 carriers through 30 countries.

Buzz around the new Windows Phone spiked yesterday.

Windows 7 chatter trend

But chatter around Windows Phone is minuscule compared to iPhone and Android.

Window Phone 7 vs. iPhone vs. Android chatter

Windows Phone 7 has six “hubs” organized around common tasks. The first is “people,” and includes things like speed dial, speed text and “speed wall postings.” The second is “pictures,” which organizes photos. There are also hubs for “office mobile,” “music and videos,” “apps” and “games.”

Apps were the most talked about feature within the Windows Phone conversation, followed by games, people, office, videos, pictures and movies.

Windows Phone 7 “hubs” chatter

How does the phone perform? Techcrunch claims that while Android phones can often feel like a cheap imitation of an iPhone, the Windows Phone 7 feels completely different, and better than Android.

What are people saying online? Sentiment around Windows Phone 7 has been 75% positive the past two days. Comparatively, iPhone was 84% positive, Android was 83% positive, and BlackBerry chatter was 75% positive.

Windows Phone 7 vs. iPhone vs. Android vs. BlackBerry sentiment

Microsoft is positioning the phone as “the phone to save us from our phones,” with ads for the new phone mocking smartphone addiction, as well as entrenched leaders BlackBerry, iPhone and Android. Interesting brand message. Is Microsoft claiming that it will make a phone that customers will want to use less?

Samsung turned heads this summer with its launch of the Galaxy S line of Android smart phones. Samsung even accomplished the rare feat of coordinating the launch across all four major U.S. carriers – T-Mobile (as the Vibrant), AT&T (as the Captivate), Sprint (as the Epic 4G) and Verizon (as the Fascinate).

With competition in the mobile market heating up, we decided to breakdown the buzz on the Galaxy S.

Chatter trend: iPhone vs. HTC Evo vs. Droid X vs. BlackBerry Torch vs. Galaxy S

Measuring chatter: iPhone vs. HTC Evo vs. Droid X vs. BlackBerry Torch vs. Galaxy S

As expected, iPhone 4 generated the most online chatter in the last month against the HTC Evo, Droid X, BlackBerry Torch and Galaxy S.

However, chatter around Galaxy S specifically has been steadily rising over the past several months.

Galaxy S chatter trend

Galaxy S sentiment

Sentiment around Galaxy S has been very positive, with 85% of conversations being positive and only 7% negative.

Galaxy S sentiment trend

Galaxy S Negative Words

The word ‘problem’ was among the most frequently used negative words.

By drilling into individual posts for further analysis, we found the words ‘slow’ and ‘lag’ among those used most often with the word ‘problem’.

We also looked at the overall topic cloud to reveal some of the key words used in Galaxy S posts, sized by relevance and colored by sentiment.

Galaxy S Conversation Topics

The word iPhone appeared in 22% of Galaxy S posts.

Galaxy S Most Influential Sites

Analysis of the Top Sources using the Social Radar visualization tool reveals Engadget blog as the top source based on links in, links out and relevant posts.

Galaxy S chatter: Captivate vs. Epic 4G vs. Fascinate vs. Vibrant

We also analyzed chatter around each of the four Galaxy S phones: the T-Mobile Vibrant, AT&T Captivate, Sprint Epic 4G and Verizon Fascinate. At the moment, the Vibrant is generating the most chatter, followed by the Captivate, the Epic 4G and then the Fascinate.

Galaxy S content breakdown

Further breaking down the percentage of content contributed by various sources reveals 67% of chatter around Galaxy S was generated by microblogs, 22% by blogs and 11% by forums.

So how does the Galaxy S chatter compare among Android enthusiasts vs. iPhone enthusiasts?

We created a watch list consisting of blogs and news feeds specifically focused on Android products, and compared which of the Android phones were generating the most chatter. We included Galaxy S, Galaxy A, Evo, Nexus One, Hero, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Droid 2 and myTouch on the chart below:

Android phone chatter among influential Android bloggers:

Conversely, we thought it would be interesting to run the same query among top iPhone focused blogs and news feeds to see which of the Android phones were generating the most chatter among iPhone enthusiasts:

Android phone chatter among influential iPhone bloggers

Nexus One dominated chatter among both Android and iPhone sources. Although the Nexus One has been on the market much longer than the Galaxy S and has been generating chatter for a longer period of time. Interestingly, the Galaxy S is not generating as much chatter among iPhone blogs and news feeds, though it is one of the most discussed among Android sources.  We will check back with an update and further analysis once the Galaxy S line has been on the market longer.

The Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during all of 2008 and 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

This year has certainly been interesting. Several new brands made their way to the mainstream making our 2009 Top 50 list, such as Kindle, Amazon’s hit e-book reader, and Android, Google’s mobile OS that is spreading onto smartphones like wildfire. Interestingly, Samsung and Nokia took a big hit this year, as sexier smartphones such as iPhones and Android-powered devices from HTC and Motorola gain more attention.

The list certainly shows that 2009 was the year of Social Media. Twitter moved ahead of Google to take the number 1 spot, while Facebook and MySpace made significant leaps over big brands as well. Most video game related brands were down this year as well, including Sony, Wii, Xbox, and Nintendo. It also appears TV brands all jumped this year including Disney, MTV, Fox, BBC, CNN, ESPN, and ABC.

Download the PDF:

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Social Radar Screenshot:

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, you have probably been hearing about the ad battle between AT&T and Verizon that is paralleling a political campaign with constant attacking on both sides. It all started when Verizon decided to make a silly spin on iPhone “There’s an App for That” ads by making a “There’s a Map for That” ad, exploiting AT&T’s poor 3G network coverage. To fight back, AT&T decided to sue Verizon, leading to a war of attack ads back and forth that has no end in sight.

What does the consumer do in this situation? Sit back and watch in amusement? Take sides? One thing’s for certain – they’ve been talking, and Social Radar is showing us some interesting insight. Let’s take a look.

Now let’s take a look at the sentiment after the ad battle.

The sentiment appears to have effected AT&T the most severely, appearing to be a success for Verizon. But, both brands gained at least some negativity. Though this is good news for Verizon, let’s take a look at this from another perspective.

Below is a trend chart from September 1st, 2009 through today of Droid Mentions (blue line) versus Commercial/Ad Mentions (red line) within Verizon chatter.

What’s concerning here is that as soon as Verizon began to run these AT&T attack ads, chatter around their beloved Droid devices has dramatically decreased. We can see very clearly that consumers are losing focus and beginning to chat more about their commercials than the very ammunition they are using to sell against AT&T and the iPhone.

It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out. Are attack ads a good way to point out flaws of competitors or does it simply lose their consumers’ focus?

The November 2009 Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during November 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during November 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

There were quite a few shifts this month. The success of Windows 7 has increased the chatter of Microsoft and Windows, raising their ranking three spots. Verizon has made it into the Top 50 this month and AT&T has increased rank mostly due to chatter around recent Verizon-AT&T attack ads. Also making an appearance this month is Oprah due to her announcement of the show ending in 2011.

The biggest surprise this month is Android, or “Droid”. It has made a remarkable jump to 11th place, surging past heavy hitters iPod, Blackberry, and even MySpace. It received nearly identical amounts of chatter as Windows and Microsoft this month.

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

The October 2009 Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during October 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during October 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

There are no big surprises with the Top 10 this month. NFL dropped 10 spots as the season opening excitement has died down a bit, while NBA jumped 11 spots as the basketball season kicks off. AT&T has dropped, while other cell phone related brands have increased such as LG and Blackberry, as well as newcomers to the list – HTC and Android. With many new Android devices out and on the horizon, as well as the recent “droid does” campaign, Android has joined our list this month at a surprising 29th place.

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

The June 2009 Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during June 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during May 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

Twitter held on to the top spot, though once again trending down this month. iPhone jumped two spots to #2 overall and Apple jumped three spots to #6 thanks to buzz around the iPhone 3G S release.

Firefox jumped 10 spots thanks to increased chatter leading up to its new Firefox 3.5 release, which was downloaded more than a million times within a few hours.

XBox jumped 5 spots to #11 overall after the Project Natal announcement at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Surprisingly, with both the Project Natal and Bing search engine announcements this month, overall Microsoft buzz only increased one spot to #9 overall.

CNN jumped 13 spots, due in large part to a steep surge surrouding the news of Michael Jackson’s death. MLB jumped eight spots as the baseball season heated up in the month of June.

Finally, HTC joined the Top 50 this month, with talk about its new widget-based HTC Hero Android smartphone announcement.

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

There’s the iPhone…and then there’s everything else. iPhone generates more than twice as much chatter as the next highest competitor, dwarfing BlackBerry, Palm and Nokia. Interestingly, Nokia sells hundreds of different phone models; Samsung sells TVs, desktop monitors, etc. — doesn’t matter, iPhone still dominates web chatter.