WifiAccess
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Boingo announces streamlined WiFi data plans with support for any two devices
Boingo's WiFi plans may come in handy for frequent travelers, but they haven't exactly been the most straightforward -- especially if you're using multiple devices. The company's gone some way towards simplifying things today, however, announcing that it's revised its unlimited WiFi data plans so that you can now use any two WiFi-enabled devices (as opposed to just two laptops) as part of the basic plan, and up to five more for an additional five bucks apiece. Unfortunately, none of those changes extend to the company's recent partnership with GoGo for in-flight internet access, which you still have to cough up the full price for.
Up to 30 minutes of free WiFi a month coming to NYC parks, New Yorkers scoff at the idea of spending 30 minutes outside
Free WiFi is one of those things that can only improve a location, so we're sure everyone will be pleased to hear that Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have teamed up and agreed to put $10 million into providing free WiFi in 32 New York City parks (as part of the city's 10-year renewal deal with the cable providers). The deal isn't without severe limits, though, as it will offer anyone up to three, 10-minute sessions of access per month, for a total of 30 minutes. After that limit is reached, there will be a charge of 99 cents per day to use the WiFi -- which sounds pretty reasonable to us. The plan is coming under a lot of scrutiny already, including some questions as to how the city (and the cable providers) plan to track each citizen using the WiFi, but we have a feeling they'll figure it out by the time the scheme officially launches, and we still don't know when that will be.
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!
