Well it has been a while since the last news post but things have been far from quiet here at Zenbu HQ. We have been working on all sorts of things some of which have already quietly been added to the website and you will have noticed but many of which are background performance enhancements that further improve speed and reliability.
One major development this year (that has happened quietly, so far) is that we have finally made the Zenbu system available for use in Australia. Over the years we have been contacted by numerous people asking whether they could use the Zenbu Wi-Fi hotspot system to provide internet access at their businesses in Australia. Up until earlier this year the answer was always no, but because there was an apparent lack of easy to use, reliable, affordable Wi-Fi management systems available in OZ we decided we should do something about it. Now we have. The Zenbu wireless system is now available for use in Australia, and it is just as reliable and easy to use as always. The Zenbu Australia website is http://www.zenbu.net.au and people can securely order a Zenbu system online for use in Australia at https://secure.zenbu.net.au/purchase_wireless_router. Easy.
A recent article in The New Zealand Herald discussed mobile data roaming charges for international travel and the shock people often experience when they return to their (sometimes HUGE) bill. What the article doesn't mention is that the main reason for the exorbitant bills is simply that the telcos typically charge ridiculous prices for roaming data usage. For example, Telecom NZ and Vodafone NZ charge $30 per megabyte and $10 per megabyte respectively for data roaming in the Cook Islands (prepaid prices as advertised on their websites on 5th November 2012). If they didn't charge so much people wouldn't be so shocked at their bills! In comparison Zenbu charges only 30 cents per megabyte for data usage in the Cook Islands and we are hopeful that we can lower that price even further in the near future!
Speaking of mobile data usage, a breakdown of current usage of our service by different mobile devices follows. Sure enough, since the iPad was released the market share of iOS has increased quite dramatically. Guess that is what happens when you create a product that sells millions in the first few months after release! About 38% of visits to our website are now by mobile devices, up from about 10% a little more than a year ago.
The following is the current breakdown (during the last month):
| Device type | Percentage of users |
|---|---|
| Android | 36.3% |
| iPhone | 34.4% |
| iPad | 19.2% |
| iPod | 8.7% |
| Blackberry | 0.6% |
| Symbian | 0.4% |
| Others (PSP, Windows etc) combined | less than 1% |
In total we have now had over 6.4 million connections and a whopping 205,916,105 megabytes of data has been transmitted via our network of hotspots! That is over 200,000 gigabytes (about 200 terabytes)!
In more news we have a new member of our team here at Zenbu HQ. Hayden started with us at the beginning of October. He has hit the ground running and is doing a good job. It's nice to have another pair of capable hands to help with things here. So a warm welcome to Hayden. Please be nice to him if you are in contact, at least while he settles in! 8-)
Okay until next time I hope all is well out there. Enjoy the beginning of summer. It's already great to score the odd bit of daylight savings sunshine after a long day on the computers.
Regards,
The Zenbu Team.
