Mobile devices driving nearly 7 percent of Web traffic

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular among U.S. consumers for accessing the Web, according to data released today by market researcher ComScore.

Some 6.8 percent of Web traffic originated from "non-computer" devices in August, compared with 6.2 percent at the end of the previous quarter, ComScore said. Mobile phones accounted for 4.4 percent of that traffic, while tablets made up 1.9 percent.

Apple's iPad dominates among tablet Web traffic, delivering 97.2 percent. The iPad also accounted for more Web traffic than iPhones (46.8 percent versus 42.6 percent of all iOS device traffic). Apple's iOS platform also beat out Android, accounting for 43.1 percent of mobile Web mobile Web traffic, compared with the 34. 1 percent delivered by Google's mobile operating system.

News and socializing were key activities among tablet owners, with about 58 percent saying they used the device for news consumption, while a similar number said they used tablets for social networking.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. consumers using mobile devices to access the Web grew to more than 116 million, a 19 percent increase in the past year.

"The popularization of smartphones and the introduction of tablets and other Web-enabled devices--collectively termed 'connected devices'--have contributed to an explosion in digital media consumption," Mark Donovan, ComScore senior vice president of mobile, said in the report. "As these devices gain adoption, we have also seen the rise of the 'digital omnivores'--consumers who access content through several touchpoints during the course of their daily digital lives."