Mobile internet use doubles in a year

"Daily part of people's lives"

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16 March 2009 11:25 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

comScore has revealed that the number of people accessing news and information on their mobile device has more than doubled in a year.

In January 2008 around 36,870,000 US users accessed the Internet on a mobile phone. This figure rose to over 63,000,000 in January 2009.

And, of that 63.2 million people, 22.4 million (35%) got online on their phone on a daily basis - more than double the size of the audience last year.

"Over the course of the past year, we have seen use of mobile Internet evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people's lives", said Mark Donovan, senior vice president, mobile, comScore.

"This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information".

Social networking and blogging are said to be popular online mobile activities with young men the most avid users of mobile news and information, with half of 18 to 34-year-old males getting involved.