3 min
As many of you may be aware, Domotz acquired Fing in 2016 to work together on Device Recognition Technology for the Internet of Things.
Since Fing was first launched in 2009, the technology has been used to discover billions of different connected device types across IP networks around the world. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Fing; it is a free network scanning application for iOS and Android that identifies the brand, type, and model information of any IP device.
Following significant improvements to our algorithms in 2016, users have had the opportunity to anonymously opt-in to use Fingpedia, our Device Recognition Engine, for more accurate device discovery. Over 3.5 million users have chosen to do this in only a few short months!
As the number of devices being brought into a home continues to grow, we thought it would be interesting to offer snapshots into what devices are really being adopted by consumers.
This report focuses on the most popular mobile and media device brands that are found on networks in different locations around the world. To develop the report, we used anonymized data from IP networks across US and Europe.
We specifically focused on Media Connected Networks, which we defined as those networks with at least one streaming device, gaming console or Smart TV. The report is based on an analysis of the devices on 933,446 connected networks in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy, in the first quarter of 2017. Of those networks, 491,834 (equal to 52.7%) were found to be media connected. Forget those surveys based on a few thousand responses, this is real insight!
In today’s world, homes no longer have only mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Nowadays more than 50% of networks see the use of media connected devices such as streaming devices, gaming consoles, and Smart TVs. Media connected networks are highest in the US followed by the UK, while lagging in countries such as Spain and Italy.
APPLE CENTRIC NETWORKS: IS APPLE MOBILE DEVICE DOMINANCE IN JEOPARDY?
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that 1 out of every 4 IP connected devices discovered by the Fing App is Apple branded, with Samsung devices being a distant second. But, when it comes to mobile phones, where are all those Apple users?
A look at the data on mobile phones illustrates how non-Apple device use is growing everywhere. Non-Apple devices are now most popular in Spain, with 70% of networks seeing alternative mobile devices other than Apple. Non-Apple devices are also becoming increasingly popular in all the countries that were examined. Continental European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain have the highest number of non-Apple devices compared to the UK and US.
Streaming Devices
Apple TV, which originally helped create the market for streaming media, is still the preferred streaming device on Media Connected Networks in the US and France. At the same time, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast appear to be catching up fast in most markets.
In Germany, the streaming market is evenly split between Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, whereas in the UK and the US, Amazon Fire TV has reached a significant 25% market share in relatively little time. Amazon’s presence in Spain, France and Italy is still very limited.
Chromecast on the other hand has taken off in Spain, and is a serious contender in all countries except for Germany. Finally, Roku TVs have an impressive market share in the US and are growing in the UK, but has yet to gain popularity elsewhere.
Smart TVs
Samsung is the clear market leader in Smart TVs across all countries. The highest penetration of Samsung Smart TVs can be found in the UK with 20%. Sony, LG and Panasonic are fighting it out for second place with varying degrees of success across different countries.
THE DEVICE RECOGNITION ENGINE FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS
The extreme popularity of the Fing app, which has grown to over 18 million downloads and almost 1 million registered user accounts, exemplifies that there is a strong need for Device Recognition technology. We define Device Recognition as the transformation of meaningless MAC addresses into accurate brand, type, and model information.
By using Fing and the Fingpedia engine, people help eachother by anonymously crowd-sourcing Device Recognition. Driven by rapid user growth, Fingpedia is continuously improving and can now instantly recognize over 9 billion devices. Millions of users have benefitted from this simply by using the free Fing App.
As the #InternetofFings takes shape and technology penetration into networks continues to grow, it will be interesting to watch which market leaders rise to the top in various technology industries.
We’ll be producing more reports such as this one in the months to come, so stay tuned.
Interested in seeing how Fing device recognition can work for your business?
Want to learn more about Fing device recognition technology?
Want to learn more about getting your own customised reports?
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us on sales@fing.io .