Fully 70 percent of first-time Internet users in China in 2012 got connected using a smartphone or tablet, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). About 75 percent of Internet users overall use tablets or smartphones for Internet access at least some of the time.

That is consistent with the notion of the important role smartphones will have as the access device in much of the world. In part, that is because smartphone sales are growing so rapidly.

But the trend has been in place for some time. In 2010, for example, In Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia, there are 610 million Internet users connecting to fixed networks. At the same time, some 1.8 billion mobile phone connections were in use, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

That, BCG suggested, indicates why by 2015 there would be 1.2 billion Internet users in these countries. Simply, mobile Internet access would be cheaper and more available than fixed access.

Already, there are by some estimates about 1.2 billion computers in use, but close to six billion cell phones.

The relative affordability of phones, compared to personal computers, also is a factor. In fact, that has proven to be true even in the United States, where one might note that PC ownership has been characterized by a statistical gap.

One high level way of describing the importance of the smartphone as an Internet access device is that, while personal computers were disproportionately used by the rich, the white and the male, smartphones are more likely to be used by blacks and Hispanics than whites, and by female as well as male users.

According to a Pew (News - Alert) research survey, 49 percent of Hispanics and 47 percent of blacks own a smartphone, compared to only 42 percent of whites. The survey also found 46 percent of men owned smartphones, compared to 45 percent of women.