Mobile search use is more widespread and frequent in the US and Western Europe — 20.8 million US and 4.5 million European mobile phone subscribers used search in June — up 68 percent and 38 percent, respectively from June 2007, comScore M:Metrics reports, MarketingCharts writes.

The UK had the highest penetration of mobile subscribers using search (9.5 percent), followed closely by the US(9.2 percent).

The number of people accessing mobile search at least once a week grew 50 percent in Europe, with France and Spain leading at a rate of 69 percent and 63 percent, respectively:

"Meanwhile, the number of US users accessing mobile search has more than doubled as a result of expanded 3G penetration and smartphone adoption, as well as the proliferation of flat-rate data plans. We have also seen a substantial improvement to the mobile search offerings in the US market," said Alistair Hill, an analyst at comScore.

Google is the preferred brand for browser-based searches with a 60 percent share of mobile searchers ("mobile searcher penetration") in all countries measured by comScore M:Metrics:

Yahoo ranks second in Germany, Italy, UK and the US In the US, Yahoo's mobile searcher penetration is 34.6 percent, more than double its share in most other countries.