Today Wi-Fi vendor Meraki announced the results of its first Wireless Census revealing a major increase and shift in the number and type of wireless-capable devices in North America. One key finding was a huge increase of number of Apple devices.
The census data was pulled from the same set of Meraki access points from 2008 and 2009. Apple devices, including iPhones, iPods and laptops, grew by 221% and now represent 32% of all devices seen by the Meraki access points examined. Results also revealed an increase in usage of all wireless-capable devices overall, but shows a dramatic increase in the use of Apple, RIM, and Nokia devices.
The Meraki Wireless Census surveyed 10,000 randomly selected Meraki access points in deployment in North America for two 24-hour periods: June 2, 2008 and June 1, 2009. The study measured the number of distinct client devices that sent probe requests in each 24-hour period. The purpose was to identify wireless trends between 2008 and 2009.
Wi-Fi is penetrating an ever-widening array of devices, reports ABI Research. Wi-Fi chipset shipments will total well over 100 million just for smartphones this year, and smartphones, netbooks, and a wide variety of consumer electronics devices such as portable media players, TVs, and cameras will become increasingly important market segments.
In the year 2011, Wi-Fi chipset vendors will ship one billion units, says ABI Research. By the end of the following year a cumulative five billion such chipsets will have shipped since the firm began tracking Wi-Fi chipsets in 2000.
In the near term, says ABI’s Philip Solis, “802.11n will be the dominant protocol shipped during 2010, and there will be no looking back as single stream 11n chipsets (those not employing MIMO technologies) increasingly replace 802.11g products.” Meanwhile, Qualcomm has entered into this market with a 4×4 MIMO 802.11n chipset. “Our N-Stream solution delivers a new level of performance and range, enabling next-generation whole-house wireless LAN coverage,” said Mike Concannon, senior VP at Qualcomm.
Meanwhile, Leichtman Research Group said Monday that the country’s 19 largest cable and telephone providers added just 634,000 new high-speed Internet subscribers in the second quarter. That’s 29% lower than a year ago, and represents the fewest new subscribers in the eight years the researcher has been tracking the industry.
