Online metrics mainstay comScore is betting that the mobile market is about to break wide open. So much so that it acquired mobile statistics company M:Metrics for $44.3 million and stock options, according to CNET.

M:Metrics monitors mobile usage, mobile web usage and mobile ads through its Mobilens survey and M:Ad and MeterDirect products. The mobile metrics calculator brings over its roster of more than 180 clients, which will bolster comScore's existing 950 clients.

The aqucisition clearly gives comScore a leg up in dissecting the numbers in the emerging mobile market, where publishers like Seventeen magazine are already reporting large subscriber bases for mobile text ads.

"With the substantial growth of 3G devices and internet friendly handsets, we believe we are now at an inflection point in internet usage on mobile devices," comScore chief Magid Abraham said in a statement.