Nintendo Wii and DS are the most searched-for products in the UK, according to ‘online competitive intelligence service’ Hitwise.

UK Internet shoppers have been eagerly reading all they can about Nintendo Wii and DS throughout November, probably because owning one is near impossible. According to UK based researchers Hitwise, 13 as many UK Internet searches were for “nintendo wii” than for “apple ipod”. During the same period twice as many people wanted to find “wii” than for “ipod” and “iphone” combined.

As we approach Christmas and things are getting desperate out there the search for “nintendo wii” has increased by 158 percent since November last year. Searches for “wii” have increased 279 percent.

Robin Goad, Director of Research at Hitwise had this to say yesterday: "The Nintendo Wii is hugely popular this year, accounting for six in every ten searches for a games console. The popularity of the Wii and the Nintendo DS mean that there were more searches for Nintendo products in November than Apple products. This is despite the significant increases in searches for both the iPod and the iPhone, which is currently the most searched for mobile phone in the UK.”

Well, you can’t make phone calls on a Wii or DS can you.

Here are the Top 10 product searches passing through Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds category during the two weeks ending 1 December 2007:

01. Nintendo Wii
02. Nintendo DS
03. Ugg boots
04. Lego
05. Bratz
06. iPhone
07. iPod
08. Barbie
09. iPod Nano
10. Xbox 360