comScore

A new study reports that the strongest growth in purchases of Apple's iPhones comes from those earning less than the median household income.

According to the digital-media research firm comScore, iPhone adoption since June soared 48 percent among those earning $25,000 to $50,000 annually, and by 46 percent among those earning between $25,000 to $75,000. Under $25,000, the growth rate was 16 percent.

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About 43 percent of iPhone buyers still earn more than $100,000 annually, but the growth rates for the lower earners is three times greater.

Microsoft said Thursday that it would set up research centers in France, Germany and Britain to improve its Internet search technology, describing the move as a vote of confidence in the European economy and in the company's ability to close the gap with Google.

Steven Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive, said at a news conference here that the three "centers of excellence," to be based near Paris, in London and in Munich, would employ several hundred people all together.

Facebook remains the number-one social-networking site in the world, according to a new study released Tuesday by comScore -- and it has undergone 153 percent growth in the past year.

The Reston, Va.-based research firm said most of the growth for social-networking sites is outside North America. On this continent, the social-networking audience grew nine percent, but the growth was much higher elsewhere -- 66 percent in the Middle East-Africa region, 35 percent in Europe, and 33 percent in Latin America. Social-networking sites for the world at large grew about 25 percent.