Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, iPod touch
iPhone dominates Boingo airport access study
It's hard to believe that we're approaching the two-year anniversary of the original iPhone. I don't think it is hyperbole to say that the iPhone has completely transformed the mobile computing space. This is especially clear when evaluating mobile Wi-Fi usage data.Today, Boingo Wireless released a data snapshot of mobile device access on its airport network of Wi-Fi hotspots. According to Boingo, airports are the number one venue for Wi-Fi access worldwide, so they make for a good data point when evaluating Wi-Fi usage.
For the past 24-months, Boingo has tracked its airport Wi-Fi data and the increase in mobile device uptake is astonishing. It's also driven almost entirely by the iPhone and the iPod touch.
Since May 2007, mobile device usage has gone from accounting for 0.1% of Boingo's airport Wi-Fi connections to 26.1%. In two years, the smartphone has gone from a non-entity to accounting for 1/4 of all of Boingo's connections.
Boingo has also tracked what type of devices associate with Boingo operated airport Wi-Fi hotspots. In 2007, the first year the iPhone was available, the iPhone only accounted for 1% of all mobile devices. Windows CE (Windows Mobile), was the leader in 2007, with 66% of mobile device connections. In 2008, the iPhone accounted for 51.7% of all mobile devices, with the iPod touch coming in second with 42.4%. For the first five months of 2009, the iPhone has taken an astounding 89.2% of all mobile devices accessing Boingo's airport hotspots. The iPod touch has dipped to 4.7%. I talked to Jeremy Pepper from Boingo PR and he said that they think the drop in the price of the iPhone is the reason iPod touch access figures have dipped, with the iPhone taking its place.
Although these figures are only from one Wi-Fi access source, the number of users that access Wi-Fi at the airport provides what I consider a good sample for data collection. In two years, not only has the mobile access space increased 261x, the iPhone OS accounts for nearly 94% of all mobile connections.
No wonder every other phone manufacturer is desperately trying to play catch-up!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
c said 1:37AM on 6-23-2009
i dont see palm pre on that list
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Christina Warren said 1:39AM on 6-23-2009
No, it's too new to be included. The study is up to May 2009, so the Palm Pre usage data won't be realistically usable for at least another month or so. Even then, I'd think it would probably need the end of the year to be significant.
reallycrazyguy said 1:40AM on 6-23-2009
This chart makes the 2007 Dvorak article on how Apple should cancel the iPhone project even more hilarious!
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JJ said 1:45AM on 6-23-2009
fuck you boingo. There is no reason why every airport terminal should not have free wi-fi. This is why I fly jet blue.
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waiownsyou said 3:38AM on 6-23-2009
I agree. Maybe the only reason iPhones account for over 90% of mobile WiFi access is because non-iPhone owners are smart enough to just use the EDGE/3G/EVDO and save money on something they technically already are paying for.
devScott said 3:40AM on 6-23-2009
This chart says "devices associating". I would be interested to see if that meant "drive by" association as opposed to active use. If so, how does android, winmo or blackberry assoicate?
I have not used all these devices but some do not actively look for these AP automatically. My iphone certainly lets me know every AP I am near.
Also these are percentages, which can be dangerous when implying real world facts.
If my previous statements are not accurate, then does this mean it is only their customer base? If so do they target iphone users moreso than other handsets? do other handsets (ie, business focused devices) have their own prepaid network not requiring third party paid wifi?
It's nice to have a piechart showing 90% iphone but is it accurate or relevant?
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wako said 3:48AM on 6-23-2009
i cant help but think that this data is a bit biased. With the US leading in all Apple sales, and the major market for Boingo airports is in the the US airports (25%), its not too hard to see that the iPhone and iPod Touch are leading the way.
Not saying the iPhone or iPod Touch wouldnt be, but I would expect a much bigger market share by S60 users. I wish they would release the data by region rather than overall.
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Christina Warren said 8:42AM on 6-23-2009
Totally, you'd have a much better sense of where devices were more popular, not just in the US.
Having said that, Symbian access rates might have actually increased (I haven't tried to calculate the percentages completely, but I'm 99% positive this pans out -- it's 8:45 AM, I need coffee), it's just that the percentage of users using a mobile device, as opposed to a laptop, to connect to Boingo in airports, has gone up by an insane margin. So 33% of all connections at 0.1% (which was what Symbian was, or at least the S60 was in 2007) represents fewer devices than the ~6% share the S60 and S30 have now, when mobile represents 26% of all access types.
wako said 2:56PM on 6-23-2009
Sweet, an editor that actually takes the time and energy to read their own comments. Kudos!
widi_s24 said 12:26PM on 6-23-2009
all about IT it's good and i like this information what i need..
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kaps said 7:22AM on 6-23-2009
Considering most blackberry phones have no wifi.... Why would iphone users pay for wifi when they are already paying for 3g? idots
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Stevensnewest said 8:26AM on 6-23-2009
My thoughts exactly. -.-
Christina Warren said 8:37AM on 6-23-2009
A valid point -- but consider this, if you are a Boingo subscriber anyway (I find that if I travel once a month it pays for itself, only because hotel WiFi is so ridiculous), and you have an iPhone, why not connect using WiFi? Especially if you're an international user and you don't necessarily have a roaming plan.
CHRiS said 10:41AM on 6-23-2009
I don't use Boingo, but I do use wifi, even though I have 3g, to download a movie or (>10mb) app before a flight onto my iphone (you can download movies now since 3.0, but cannot DL them on 3g/edge). So there are some uses, but whoever uses it just to browse the web, I agree - waste of money.
Grant Robertson said 2:20PM on 6-23-2009
Pro Tip: When referring to a generic group of people as idiots, remember to check for spelling.
spmp said 8:38AM on 6-23-2009
Isn't boingo affiliated with AT&T? Can't iPhone users access their network for free (like McD & Barnes & Noble)?
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Christina Warren said 8:44AM on 6-23-2009
Yeah, this is their owned and operated hotspots though, focussed just on airports. It is very possible AT&T has a deal with airports to allow them to co-opt the Boingo numbers, and that would explain some of the 2009 figures (Boingo didn't get the deal with Starbucks until late 2008, IIRC), but I'm not sure. I can ping Jeremy for more of a follow-up.
spmp said 8:50AM on 6-23-2009
I was recently at JFK and saw that they had an AT&T login, but was unable to do so. I wrote Boingo support and got this response, which makes no sense to me:
Hello,
Yes, you can use your AT&T account to login in the walled garden page
and look for the roaming provider "ATT"..
Thank you
Maria
Boingo wireless
1-800-880-4117
Brian Allen said 8:39AM on 6-23-2009
This is not the complete picture, because many iPhones are set to auto-join a WiFi. Many WiFi surveys are based on MAC address connections and not active login connections.
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Christina Warren said 8:50AM on 6-23-2009
This is a good point. Boingo has also released data of subscriber monthly megabyte usage (I'll update the post with a link to the datasheet as soon as it is live on Boingo's site, but it isn't up there right now), so they accurately have information on customers who subscribe and login and non-subscribing customers.
I'm honestly not sure of the methodology in these data snapshots, if it takes all connected devices (which is what I would think -- and in that case, it needs a password or agreement to pay a fee) or if non-connected but in-range devices count too.
Regardless, even if it is the latter, while it isn't necessarily reflective of HOW people use their phones, it is reflective of the number of iPhone's in airports versus other smartphones. My BlackBerry insta-connects to any device that appears "open" too (and there is a Boingo client for BlackBerry). The last Symbian phone I had didn't have WiFi, so I'm not sure on that one.