comScore, a market research firm that measures trends in the digital world has released a study that shows just how mobile the world has become. Their research reveals that many mobile and smartphone users checked in using mobile apps such Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla. The study, which surveyed users in March, found that 16.7 million, or 7.1 percent of the total US mobile subscriber base used location-based ìcheck-inî services on their phones. 17.6 percent of the estimated 12.7 million smartphone owners now use these services.