ANCHORFREE, the global leader in consumer security, privacy and Internet freedom, announced Tuesday that its award-winning Hotspot Shield VPN has surpassed 200 million global downloads. Growing by more than nine million new downloads per month, Hotspot Shield is the most popular VPN service in the world and the No. 1 security and privacy app on iPhone and iPad devices. It now protects and keeps private more than 350,000 social media messages and 50,000 emails every hour. In MENA, Hotspot Shield mobile use increased by 170 per cent in the past twelve months. “Exceeding more than 200 million Hotspot Shield VPN downloads is a tremendous milestone and clearly demonstrates explosive growth in consumer demand for internet privacy, security and access,” said David Gorodyansky, founder and CEO of AnchorFree. “The trends which led to growth in demand in 2013 will only escalate in the coming year.” Gorodyansky added that nearly one-third of its monthly activity now comes from its mobile app, which was released for iPhones in November 2011 and on Android devices in May 2012. It has been installed by 21 million users to date. In addition to privacy, security and access, the mobile app saves money by compressing data: in 2013 Hotspot Shield mobile apps saved users more than 220 million megabytes (MB) of mobile data usage. AnchorFree anticipates digital privacy, security and access concerns will escalate in 2014 along with demand for its product amid growing consumer trends. There is a shifting tide in social media, particularly with younger consumers, as users pull back from widespread, indiscriminate sharing and turn toward more private, temporal one-to-one interactions. As consumers place more value on privacy and control over content, they are embracing new ways to share special moments with family and friends. Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is booming. City-sponsored Wi-Fi growing in speed and popularity. Public Wi-Fi is no longer limited to the confines of a coffee shop or library. This is set to become reality in Dubai, which is currently perusing an ambitious program to create a “Smart City” – a strategy that has been accelerated by the recent Expo 2020 win. Elsewhere, many cities across the US and around the world now offer municipal Wi-Fi for parks, streets and neighborhoods. — SG
