Public WiFi and mobile access is a big topic right now, thanks to the spreading of smartphones like a disease with no cure.  A number of initiatives, including some massive pushes from Google, have brought this topic to the forefront of tech industry conversations, as access can mean a directional shift in the economy, its marketplace and monetiziation, effecting everything from education to marketing.

A report from JiWire, an audience media company with its own network of public WiFi locations, looks at the current state of internet access, giving us a comprehensive peek at a growing sector in tech.

For starters, JiWire notes heavy growth rates in the U.S. and Turkey for public Wi-Fi usage, though Turkey is at the bottom of the list for ranked countries.  Topping this list is actually the U.S., with 93k public Wi-Fi locations, and China’s second in line, with less than 40k locations.  It’s growth rate is also less than 1%, while the U.S. is speeding ahead at 22.9%.

Most countries on this list, including Germany, Russia, South Korea, Japan and Sweden, actually saw similar growth patterns, while France and the UK hover between 2% and 4% (Turkey’s rate is exponential, at 1422%).  The 3 fastest growing public WiFi cities are all centered around New York, with San Francisco and Chicago rounding out the top 5 list.

JiWire also takes a look at the free vs. paid public WiFi usage, looking at venue types pushing free internet access as a business model.  The U.S. is pretty even, with free public WiFi taking a slight lead at nearly 54%.  Worldwide, paid WiFi rules at almost 73%.  Hotels, airports and cafes are the leading venues pushing this transition, though nearly 90% of studied cafes don’t offer free WiFi.  Hotels and airports come in at 57% and 81% respectively.

The top devices pushing these trends in the U.S. aren’t surprising.  Apple shines on this list, taking the top 3 spots.  The Motorola Droid and Droid 2 come in behind, with BlackBerry and the Palm Pre sprinkling this Android-dominated ranking.  It’s OS, however, hasn’t taken over iOS, which is losing its 90% market share to Android, growing its 7% take on the market.  RIM and Windows Mobile come in next, with Sony PSP, webOS, Symbian and Linux closing out this list.  The UK saw very similar patterns, though Android’s OS distribution is nearly double the U.S.

The holiday season finds its way into this report, with a large portion (just over 40%) of surveyed mobile users indicating they’ll be using location-based services at about the same rate during this time.  Thirty-seven percent of users said they’ll be using them more.  Searching for store locations was the top reason listed for use of LBS’s (at over 60%), with descriptions and product reviews, nearby inventory search and social networking almost evenly taking up the remainder.

What didn’t make much of an impact on holiday consumer expectations were check-ins, with over 50% of surveyed users indicating they don’t check in at all.  A fair 29%, however, do check in for deals and promotions.  Location-sharing and bookmarking places took up 17% and 14% of this audience.

The travel sector is clearly making the most of public WiFi offerings as part of their business model, with related businesses finding ways to monetize paid or free internet access.  The business user took up most of this audience, at 42%.  This trend has been noticeably growing for the business sector.  Google, for instance, is buying into the travel search industry, and even offering free public WiFi for travelers this holiday season.  The search giant has also been influential in pushing industry change.

[photo credit: Getty Images]