Commentary
Public Hotspots Increase for On-The-Go Users
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 11, 2010
This Insights report provides a snapshot of usage trends and audience data over public Wi-Fi for the fourth quarter of 2009, for the total number of locations at the end of the reporting period according to the JiWire hotspot registry of over 289,000 public Wi-Fi locations in 140 countries. JiWire projects a 15% increase in free Wi?Fi locations in the U.S. this year, which will bring free Wi-Fi to 52% of the total number of public Wi-Fi locations.
The overall growth of public Wi?Fi locations since 2004 is 439%, with a worldwide quarter-over-quarter growth throughout 2009 of 21.9%, and a growth of 2.6% in the fourth quarter.
Growth in Worldwide Public Wi-Fi Locations (000) | |
Year | Wi-Fi Locations |
2004 | 53.7 |
2005 | 93.0 |
2006 | 132.1 |
2007 | 219.7 |
2008 | 237.5 |
2009 | 289.5 |
Source: JiWire, December 2009 | |
The U.S. accounted for 26% of worldwide growth in Q4 2009, while the Top 10 U.S. Cities maintained their ranking from Q3 to Q4 2009. The fastest growing cites in the Top 10, Q4, were in the southern half of the U.S., and all had quarter-over-quarter growth that exceeded 1%.
Top 10 U.S. Cities for Public Wi-Fi (Q4 2009) | ||||
Rank | U.S. Cities | # of Locations | Q3 Rank | % Change (from Q3) |
1 | New York City | 887 | 1 | +0.9% |
2 | San Francisco | 869 | 2 | ?0.5% |
3 | Chicago | 794 | 3 | +0.1% |
4 | Houston | 643 | 4 | +3.9% |
5 | Seattle | 608 | 5 | ?0.5% |
6 | Los Angeles | 514 | 6 | +1.6% |
7 | Atlanta | 467 | 7 | +2.6% |
8 | San Diego | 451 | 8 | +1.8% |
9 | San Antonio | 429 | 9 | ?0.7% |
10 | Austin | 425 | 10 | +1.7% |
Source: JiWire, December 2009 | ||||
David Staas, senior vice president, marketing, of JiWire, says "With the proliferation of mobile devices, more people are accessing the Internet outside their homes and offices, whether on a mobile phone, netbook or even a gaming device... over 890 million new Internet enabled wireless devices are expected to ship this year alone... revolutionizing how people integrate media into their daily lives... "
Nearly half of users make purchases online while out of the home and office, and are doing so on a broad range of devices.
Mobile Audiences Device Use to Stay Connected (Q4, 2009) | |
Device | % of Users |
Laptop | 83% |
Mobile device (eg: phones) | 56 |
Netbook | 10 |
Gaming device | 7 |
MP3 | 7 |
eBook | 4 |
Camera | 3 |
Source: JiWire, December 2009 | |
Public Wi-Fi is becoming more pervasive with a 21.9% growth in locations in 2009, says the report. Additionally, overall Wi-Fi usage continued to grow, with an 8.2% increase in Q4 alone. Travelers took advantage of free Wi-Fi sponsored by Microsoft (Bing) and Google over the holidays. These campaigns contributed to an increase in usage at airports and cafés by 26% and 22.9% respectively in Q4.
North American Public Wi-Fi Visits (Q4, 2009) | |
Venue | % Change in Visits (Q3-Q4 2009) |
Hotels | +1.3% |
Airports | +26.0 |
Cafes | +22.9 |
Other | +12.1 |
All venues | +8.2 |
Source: JiWire, December 2009 | |
Further contributing to the increase in Wi-Fi use is the general shift from data cards to Wi-Fi. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 9% of laptop users made the switch to Wi-Fi in the second half of 2009, notes the report.
US Laptop Owners Connecting Wirelessly, 2009 | |
Connection Method | % Market Q4,2009 |
Wi-Fi Only | 72% |
Wi-Fi and Data Cards | 11 |
Data cards only | 17 |
Source: Pew Internet & American Life, 2009 | |
When surveyed, the on-the-go mobile audience revealed they are avid online shoppers and most likely to shop online for convenience:
- 90% make purchases online
- 49% make purchases online while on the go
- 47% use the Internet as their primary source for making a purchase
- Internet stores, such as Amazon and eBay, are the most popular shopping destination with on-the-go audiences
- In December, the most frequently visited Web site categories were news, search engines and social networking
JiWire concludes with the hope that this report effectively highlights market trends for advertisers.
For more information about the report, with charts and graphs, please visit JiWire here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
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Trade Borders are disappearing and it is important to our respective global strategies to understand not only the differences but the similarities in our targeted markets.