China says Web users top US at 253 mln

IDN Active Member

Messages:: 185

Likes Received:: 3

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 58

#1

China says Web users top US at 253 mln

JOE McDONALD

BEIJING (AP) â€” China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday.

The latest figure on Web use at the end of June is a 56 percent increase from a year ago, the China Internet Network Information Center said. It said the share of the Chinese public using the Internet is still just 19.1 percent, leaving more room for rapid growth.

The United States had an estimated 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online, a research firm. The Pew Internet and American Life Project puts U.S. online penetration at 71 percent.

"This is the first time the number has drastically surpassed the United States, becoming the world's No. 1," a CNNIC statement said.

The communist government encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block access to Web sites deemed pornographic or subversive. Web surfers have been jailed for posting or e-mailing material that criticizes communist rule or is deemed a violation of vague national security laws.

Beijing blocks access to Web sites run by dissidents, human rights groups and some foreign news media. Web surfers were blocked from seeing Google Inc.'s YouTube and other foreign sites with video footage of anti-government protests in Tibet in March.

That same month, the government said it would shut down 25 Chinese video sites and punish 32 others for violating new rules against carrying content that is deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security.

In financial terms, China's market lags those of the United States, South Korea and other economies. But online commerce, video sharing and other businesses are growing rapidly and have raised millions of dollars from investors.

The commercial boom has produced success stories such as games site Tencent.com and search engine Baidu.com, which are competing with foreign rivals for local market share. Baidu said Thursday its profits in the latest quarter soared 87 percent over the year-earlier period to 265 million yuan ($38.6 million).

Total revenues for China's Internet companies soared to 40.5 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) in 2007, up 48.6 percent from the previous year, the research firm Analysys International reported this week. It said revenues should keep growing at an annual rate of at least 30 percent in coming years, reaching 137.5 billion yuan by 2010.

By contrast, U.S. online advertising revenues alone in 2007 were $21.2 billion (145.2 billion yuan), according to a report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The research firm BDA China Ltd. says China's online population should keep growing by 18 percent annually, reaching 490 million by 2012 â€” a number larger than the entire U.S. population.

Internet companies are looking forward to a new growth spurt once Chinese mobile phone carriers roll out third-generation, or 3G, technology that can support Web-surfing and other services. No date has been announced, but with more than 500 million mobile accounts, China has a vast pool of potential wireless Internet users.

China's Internet boom has gotten a boost from a sharp slowdown in demand for fixed-line phones as more customers opt for mobile service. Fixed-line carriers have responded by expanding into broadband Internet, Web-based cable television and other services. The CNNIC report Friday said that as a result, 214 million Chinese now have high-speed access.
Click to expand...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jyk8TWYd7pqTNCGW5QUHfIKqg3IAD9250NIO0

IDN, Jul 27, 2008 IP

wokaka Peon

Messages:: 2,345

Likes Received:: 44

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#2

What is your point? So you said we should create a website with Chinese language and try to market our product there?

wokaka, Jul 27, 2008 IP

JeremiaSK8 Active Member

Messages:: 929

Likes Received:: 68

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 70

#3

I don't think that chinese people spend as much money on the internet the people living in the US. That's why it doesn't really matter how many chinese people are using the internet daily.

JeremiaSK8, Jul 27, 2008 IP

redspace Peon

Messages:: 619

Likes Received:: 9

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#4

The Chinese rarely go to english language site or use search engine other than their search engine. It won't give much traffic for us.

redspace, Jul 27, 2008 IP

ChristianBlake Peon

Messages:: 112

Likes Received:: 3

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#5

This is great information if you can find a way to make money from the traffic. Advertising on those sites are generally cheap too, especially for banner advertising at CPM rates.

ChristianBlake, Jul 27, 2008 IP

godsofchaos Peon

Messages:: 2,595

Likes Received:: 124

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#6

Thats simply awesome news.... good to hear... though it is quite obvious and much expected with the population and all...

godsofchaos, Jul 27, 2008 IP

CrazedContent Guest

Messages:: 113

Likes Received:: 1

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#7

There are 1.1Billion of them. It was bound to happen soon enough.

CrazedContent, Jul 27, 2008 IP

wokaka Peon

Messages:: 2,345

Likes Received:: 44

Best Answers:: 0

Trophy Points:: 0

#8

yes, i think that way too. China is growing rapidly in almost all factors. Their economy would be the greatest in the near future so I think there are lots of potential in China internet world. However, the government controls them too much...

wokaka, Jul 27, 2008 IP

Log in or Sign up

China says Web users top US at 253 mln

IDN Active Member

wokaka Peon

JeremiaSK8 Active Member

redspace Peon

ChristianBlake Peon

godsofchaos Peon

CrazedContent Guest

wokaka Peon

Useful Searches