Analyst Nielsen has been presenting its latest research on mobile internet usage at the MobileBeat conference in California, and it makes interesting reading.

The company suggests mobile internet is crossing the chasm between early adopters and mainstream mobile users.

What's more, for those Europeans who are still clinging to the belief that the US is a backward market when it comes to mobile, Nielsen says it's actually the leading market in terms of penetration, with 16 per cent of mobile users surfing on their phones.

The UK (13%), Italy (12%), Spain (11%), France (10%) and Germany (7%) are behind, but interestingly they're broken up by countries like Russia (11%) and Thailand (10%).

The research shows why mobile games publishers are putting more effort into their direct-to-consumer WAP sites, aided also by the roll-out of easier mobile payment mechanisms in countries like the UK.