GLOBAL – We are increasingly surfing the web on our mobile phones and, according to research by StatCounter, the brand of phone used most to access the Internet is Nokia.

In January 2011, the Web was reached on mobile phones by 4.3 per cent of us across the world. One year on, in 2012, that figure has doubled to 8.5 per cent.

Just three years ago, the percentage of people connecting to the Internet via their phone was only 0.7 per cent.

As well as charting this super-fast general growth, StatCounter also looked at which devices are being used to connect to the Net.

Nokia holds the top position, with 38.4 per cent of all the mobile Internet traffic generated by a Nokia phone, ahead of Apple with 27.6 per cent and RIM with 13.7 per cent.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Mobile Vendor (Beta) Market Share

The Internet has been available on your Nokia mobile phone for many years, but it’s only now that the technology  is capable of producing the same results and feel you’d expect from a computer

And there’s no reason to think Nokia won’t retain this No1 position on the Internet. The Next Web reports that Windows Phone 7 is performing really well, especially with social networking fans.

“One of the real positives for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is how engaged its users appear to be with its devices,” says Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel. “Eighty one per cent of handset owners have used social networking on their device in the past month, higher than both iOS & Android. Meanwhile, three quarters have used GPS, indicating that its decision to include Nokia maps for free was a price worth paying to drive user engagement.”

Are you a mobile Internet user? What would you use first to access somewhere online? Your phone or your computer? Let us know, in the comments below

Image credit: Simon Blackley