14 DAY TRIAL // Wireless Internet is no doubt headed for even wider use in the coming years. Spurred by better coverage and bandwidth and, equally, by better and more portable mobile devices, Internet on the go is seeing a solid growth in most areas. A new study in the US shows wireless Internet use rising 41 percent in just one year.
The study, released by Meraki, a cloud-based mesh networking company, took a sample of the devices using 10,000 of its APs across the US. The survey looked at the number and distribution of the devices in June 2, 2008 and June 1, 2009 for a 24-hour period, and showed a dramatic rise in mobile Internet use, which grew from 149,000 devices connected in 2008 to 211,000 this year, a 41 percent increase.
While the overall growth is impressive, even more impressive is the growth some companies saw in this period, far outpacing the overall trend. Apple was the fastest growing company across all categories and compared to all other companies studied. Apple devices, including notebooks, iPhones and iPod Touch, were more than three times as numerous this year, seeing a 221 percent growth, from 21,000 in 2008 to more than 67,000 today.
Intel-based devices, meaning traditional laptops and netbooks, also saw some growth in the last year, with an 11 percent rise in numbers, but their share of the market has actually shrunk from 24 percent to 19 percent. Other mobile devices also saw a more modest growth of 12 percent.
“It’s unambiguous that more people are using more devices to access the Internet via WiFi than ever before,” Sanjit Biswas, CEO and co-founder of Meraki, said. “But the trends identified by the Meraki Wireless Census also reveal a lot about the devices people prefer and are gravitating towards. The growth in devices overall is impressive, but the growth for Apple, Nokia and RIM devices is stunning. It paints a vivid picture about how people now access the Internet, and the trends we can expect for years to come.”