comScore: Mobile Web Surfing Lags In U.S.

When it comes to surfing on cell phones, Europeans are bigger Web enthusiasts than Americans. Twenty-nine percent of Europeans regularly use their mobile phones to access the Internet, compared to 19% of those in the United States.

That's according to the inaugural comScore Mobile Tracking Study, released Monday. The study also found differences in where Americans and Europeans go on the mobile Web. Internet portals were the popular destinations in the United States, where almost three-quarters of mobile users view content from sites such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Only 30% of Europeans went to Web portals, favoring sites run by carriers such as Vodafone, o2 and T-Mobile instead.

"Google remains strong but the other U.S.-based portals achieve much lower penetration, facing stiff competition from local competitors--in this case mobile providers--who have the structural advantage of a degree of control over the access point and interface from the mobile phone," said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe, in a prepared statement.

In both the United States and Europe, men are somewhat more likely to go on the Web from mobile phones, at 55 percent overall.

On the hardware side, Nokia is the top cell phone brand in Europe--while Motorola holds that distinction in the United States, with 26 percent of the market. Nokia is second at 17 percent, and Samsung is third, with 10 percent.

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