One-third of all page views in UK come from mobiles and tablets

15 Mar 2013

Around 44.8m people in the UK used the internet in December 2012, up 5pc on last year and around a third of these accessed the web from mobile phones and tablet computers – an all-time high.

According to new research from ComScore, some 64pc of mobile users in the UK carry smartphones and already 82pc of mobile devices acquired in December were smartphones.

The UK online video audience grew by 8pc over the year, while the mobile video audience grew by 262pc.

Google maintains its strong hold of the search-engine market, capturing 91pc of all UK searches. As the search market continues to evolve, Brits are also turning to non-traditional search sites, such as Amazon and eBay, to search for information and products.

Facebook remains the leading social network in the UK, capturing the largest amount of unique visitors. However, there are some rising stars on the horizon – Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Goodreads – that have all witnessed strong growth rates over the year across both PC and mobile.

Online shopping has long become the norm, with 9 out of 10 UK internet users visiting retail sites and mobile shopping is escalating, with 1 in 5 Brits using their smartphone to purchase a good or service in December 2012.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com