With Apple’s recent release of OS X Tiger, I wanted to check out the buzz on the latest iteration of OS X. I’ll spare you any lame Tiger roaring references, but if you want the dirt on hackneyed headlines, I highly recommend Jason Kottke’s compilation of where the pack mentality went wrong.

While searches on Apple are up 11% for the week, Tiger hasn’t truly dented the buzz to the extent I expected. The latest OS just can’t compare to the glamour of the iPod. Witness the top Apple searches over the last week:

1. Apple iPod
2. Apple Store
3. Apple iPod Mini
4. Apple Quicktime
5. Apple Laptops

Perhaps the searches on the Apple Store are from those looking to upgrade to Tiger, but given the buzz, we’d guess most shoppers are ending up with those oh-so-distinctive earbuds.

In looking at searches on the word “tiger,” we had to keep in mind that while some of the interest was Apple-related, the bulk of those looking for tigers were probably looking for the striped variety. In any event, queries on “tiger” were up 19% for the week, a nice boost either way. Pressing on, I delved deeper into tiger-related terms to come up with these top OS X related searches from the last week:

1. Apple Tiger
2. Mac Tiger
3. Tiger OS
4. OSX Tiger
5. Tiger Widgets

Buzz on operating systems doesn’t exactly measure up to the Britney and Idol buzz I’m used to researching, but I’m always open to checking in with columns on other tech-related search trends. Please feel free to let me know what sorts of buzz you’re curious about.

Erik Gunther

Yahoo! Buzz Index Editor