Xbox Reigns, Hogwarts Howls, iPhone Triumphs and Walmart Wins

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 20, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ask.com, the number one online brand for questions and answers, has revealed the hottest gifts this holiday season, selected from the millions of questions asked throughout the last month at Ask.com. Users turned to Ask for answers on everything from the hottest gadgets to the best spot to grab them, with Ask.com returning answers both from the Web and its growing community of Ask.com users.

Hottest holiday gifts, according to Ask.com users, include:

Grab Your Joysticks: Gaming wins overall this holiday season, with more than five percent of all Ask.com questions being about the Xbox. Gamers asked almost 5 times more questions about the Xbox than the Sony Playstation, with the Nintendo Wii falling between the two.

Wizards vs. Vampires: Avatar may have gotten the Oscar nods but it's Harry that fans wanted to know about. Double the amount of questions were asked about Harry Potter as compared to the vampires and werewolves in Twilight, and the young wizard was asked about five times more often than the blue men in James Cameron's flick, Avatar.

There's an App for That: iPhone reigned with more than twice as many questions asked about Apple's big seller as compared to the next phone in line, the Droid. The BlackBerry was also a popular gift item, although Ask users were not nearly as inquisitive about the handheld as its iPhone and Droid peers.

Crack a Book: ...or flip a switch. Though the iPad was one of the year's hottest tech products, it still couldn't beat the Kindle for top reader in the gifts category. The iPad only received two-thirds the amount of questions as the Kindle. The Barnes & Noble Nook couldn't keep up, with less than half as many questions as the Kindle.

Where to Buy? Walmart urges shoppers to "Save Money, Live Better" and apparently consumers are listening. The retailer was tops for questions on Ask with a two-to-one lead over big box competitor Target.

For the first time, Ask.com also released the most popular holiday questions and corresponding answers from real users, fueled by its growing Q&A community. Top questions include:

Is Black Friday the best time to go shopping before Christmas?

Ask.com users say no—the savings don't make up for the crowds. While the low-ticket items are marked way down on Black Friday, most high dollar items are held back for full retail.

iPhone or iPad?

The Ask community agrees with the millions of questions asked by users overall, choosing the iPhone over the iPad this holiday season. According to the community, while the iPad is easier on the eyes, flexible wins out. The iPhone4 is more portable, can be used as a phone, and is a lot less expensive than its larger counterpart.

How to avoid my Christmas tree allergies?

The top answer in the Ask.com community recommends Benadryl an hour before the tree is brought in and out of the house, and also suggests going faux to ensure allergies are avoided.

How to keep the tree fresh?

Users recommend cutting an inch off the end before bringing it home, and adding sugar to the water at the base of the tree. The community also recommends shaking the tree before leaving the lot, and picking a tree where most of the needles stay put.

What about Grandpa's gift?

The community suggests the gift of time, offering to handle grandpa's errands or chores rather than leaving him a present by the tree.

Holiday data was collected from user questions from November 8, 2010 – December 8, 2010.

About Ask.com

Ask.com is the number one online brand for questions and answers and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI).  The Ask Network of sites is the 4th largest property in the US for unique searches according to November, 2010 comScore data with 92 million domestic unique monthly users. Ask.com also syndicates search and advertising solutions to a network of affiliate partners.

SOURCE Ask.com