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U.S. Still the Laggard in Mobile Internet Usage

comScore Networks releases the inaugural findings of the comScore Mobile Tracking Study, which reveals significant differences in the way that Europeans and Americans use the Web on their mobile phones.

This ongoing tracking study is designed to analyze and understand how consumers across six countries in Europe and America (U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) access Internet content from their mobile phones. It shows that 29 percent of European Internet users within the aforementioned countries regularly access the Web from their mobile phones compared to only 19 percent in the U.S.

Of the countries examined, the highest mobile Web penetration is seen in both Germany and Italy (34 percent for each), followed by France with 28 percent, Spain with 26 percent and the UK with 24 percent. The U.S. figure of 19 percent is the lowest of the set.

The comScore Mobile Tracking Study also shows than men are somewhat more likely to access the Web from their mobile phones than women. Across all six countries, although the Internet penetration is split evenly between men and women, 55 percent of those who access the Web from their mobile phones are men.

The study found Nokia to be the leading brand of phone for those who regularly access the mobile Web across five of the six countries examined, capturing share ranging from 50 percent in Italy to 22 percent in France. Only in the U.S., where Motorola has the greatest share (26 percent), is Nokia pushed into second place, with a 17 percent share.

"Three-quarters of American mobile Web surfers access content from the leading online portals such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN compared to only thirty percent of Europeans," commented Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. "In Europe, the mobile Internet appears to mirror the dynamics of the fixed Internet."

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