The Cloud saw a 114% increase in tablet devices accessing the WiFi network on January 8th 2014, compared with the same day in 2013. This date was chosen for analysis because the majority of UK is back at work and new devices have been registered. Reflecting the growing popularity of devices such as the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire, The Cloud also saw a 307% increase in Android tablets accessing the network compared with the previous year. iOS tablets also increased but by a significantly lower 106%.
The retail-frenzy during Christmas and New Year is a notoriously busy time for The Cloud which provides internet connection in venues such as Westfield, M&S and WH Smiths. 2013 was no different, with over 8.4 million WiFi sessions connecting between December 27 and December 31, 2013 – a 3.5 times increase on the 2.4 million sessions during this period in 2012. Not surprisingly, the venues seeing the heaviest usage during this period were the shopping malls.
Vince Russell, Managing Director, The Cloud, said: “What’s stood out in the first few weeks of 2014 is the rise in Android tablets using our WiFi compared with this time last year. To us this highlights the rise of the tablet industry which was once all about the iPad, but other devices have now made their mark. The figures also show how we are becoming more tablet-obsessed as a nation. Since the start of 2014, the UK has spent over 39 million tablet-based minutes online. With everything from online banking to retail and healthcare being increasingly tablet-based, we expect usage to grow even more over the next 12 months.”
The Cloud saw extensive growth during 2013 and now offers free WiFi in over 20,000 locations across the UK, with 8 million registered users.