Usage Patterns of 1 Billion Connected Devices Reveal Changing Consumer Habits 

CUJO AI releases an annual device intelligence report, focused on the latest smart device usage trends in the United States and Canada, shares findings of changing usage patterns during the pandemic. 

Walnut, CA (June 2, 2021) – CUJO AI, the global leader of cybersecurity and network intelligence solutions for network operators, today released the annual device intelligence report. The report explores Internet-connected device usage patterns and trends based on data from more than 1 billion devices in the Unites States and Canada. 

The report analyzes device usage data ranging from January 2020 until April 2021. Changing daily habits of consumers were clearly visible in the types of devices they bought and used throughout the year: 

• Gaming consoles experienced two surges in popularity in the last 15 months. The PlayStation 4 is by far the most popular gaming console. 
• E-readers went up 150% once the quarantine started. 
• Smart watches were one of the most popular purchases at the end of 2020, with 40% rise in popularity. 
• VR headsets are growing in popularity, and a major increase of VR headsets corresponded to the initial lockdown in 2020. 

“The pandemic by far was one of the most important factors that triggered deviations from normal device usage patterns,” says Kimmo Kasslin, Head of Labs, CUJO AI. “We have seen that smartphones and tablets continue to replace desktops for many business tasks, giving easy access to business data.”

• Personal computers no longer make up the majority of consumer devices on the Internet. Smartphones are the most common connected devices, with a little over 38% of all connected devices.
• iOS devices make up over two-thirds of the mobile device population in North America.

• Tablets and smart TVs seem to have reached points of saturation in their respective markets.
• Among thousands of models, no Android device has more than 3% of the Android market. At the same time, there are 7,027 different Android device models in active use in North America, with no easy way to determine which ones are no longer supported by vendors, posing severe security threats.

The report was made possible by the advancements of CUJO AI Labs, which have developed and deployed robust artificial intelligence algorithms that can classify device types and models with extreme precision. 

“Precise device intelligence is an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to preventative cybersecurity,” states Kasslin. “We identify a device and can wall it off from the rest of the network if it starts acting out of character, as it is a sign that the device is compromised by malware or hackers.” 

The rapidly changing device landscape poses significant challenges to network service providers that need to adapt their network management solutions and discover potential issues or even threats as quickly as possible. CUJO AI device intelligence solves various challenges for NSPs, as they can create reliable device inventories and use this aggregated data for major decisions in network management or daily service provision, including dynamic bandwidth allocation. 

Today, CUJO AI serves the largest inventory of devices in the world, with the broadest ability to detect, categorize and protect. Last year, the company announced that another Tier 1 network service provider in Canada had chosen its services, making it the fourth top 5 residential broadband provider in Canada to deploy CUJO AI Digital Life Protection solutions. CUJO AI is also providing its AI-powered Digital Life Protection solutions to the largest US broadband operators, Comcast and Charter Communications. 

About CUJO AI  

CUJO AI provides advanced multilayered cybersecurity and network intelligence solutions for Internet service providers, which allows them to protect end users’ devices and home networks. Major mobile and broadband providers partner with CUJO AI to offer security as an added-value service to their clients. Thanks to a unified approach that encompasses AI algorithms and an unmatched scale of its database, the company’s products have a proven positive impact on their partner telecom revenue streams and customer retention. As the only comparative platform deployed to monitor over 1 billion devices, CUJO AI offers the most advanced AI algorithms to help its clients uncover previously unavailable insights about devices on their networks. Data processed by these algorithms is in full compliance with all privacy regulations.