Boingo Wireless, the largest WiFi provider in the world, has released some very interesting news regarding WiFi use. According to the company’s WiFi Snapshot report, 58.9% of all devices connecting to WiFi networks are smartphones or tablets. This data comes from 60 airports in North America and Europe and 400,000 other WiFi hotspots globally, so it’s a pretty good representation of general use.

Now, 83% of the traffic racked up by those mobile devices is coming from gadgets running Apple’s iOS. These are obviously huge numbers, and according to Dawn Callahan, the vice president of consumer marketing for Boingo Wireless,

“Since the launch of the iPhone in June 2007, we’ve seen a marked growth trend for non-laptop devices, but the exponential growth in iPhones and iPads in the last year pushed mobile devices past laptops, showcasing just how disruptive the trend is.”

Android also represents a decent portion of the wireless devices in use, but is still behind the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch at a “distant fourth place.”

The fact that unlimited plans are growing more and more rare, it doesn’t surprise me that Callahan names 2011 as the year “Wi-Fi became an essential part of mobile Internet connectivity.”

I wonder how TiP readers play into this. In the comments section down below, let me know what mobile gadgets you frequently use, and if you rely more on 3G, 4G or WiFi. Personally I tend to use 3G the most, but that’s because I’m grandfathered into an unlimited plan on AT&T, and my campus WiFi is atrocious.

Via: AppleInsider