U.S. connects 500 million Internet devices

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., March 19 (UPI) -- The United States has more than 500 million devices connected to the Internet, mostly due to increased smartphone and tablet ownership, a research firm says.

The NPD Group says the Internet-connected devices include smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, video-game consoles, HDTVs, Blu-Ray players and more.

Its analysis shows that in the last 3 months ago more than 9 million people moved up from regular cell phones to smartphones and 18 million more consumers have purchased a tablet device, Slash Gear reported Tuesday.

"It's hard to believe that tablets and smartphones are still somewhat in their infancy. But as we have seen in just the past few months, there is significant potential for this market to develop further," John Buffone, director of devices at NPD Connected Intelligence, said.

Multiple Internet-capable devices per household are the norm, the survey found, and the number of devices per U.S. Internet-connected household has jumped from 5.3 devices per home to 5.7 devices.

However, the PC still remains the most commonly used Internet-connected device in households, with over 93 percent of households reporting at least one PC.