China now leading the internet supremacy

If you till recently thought China is only leading the world in the gold medal tally this Olympics...think again!! China has officially surpassed the USA in its internet usage. Statistics provided for the month of June 2008 by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) indicate that approximately 253 million people across China have access to the Internet.

And, considering the United States has already mustered a population to Internet penetration rate of 71 percent throughout the country -- as opposed to China’s mere 19 percent -- it’s more than likely that the coming months will see China further distance itself from the U.S. as more of the country embraces Net access. 84.7% of Chinese Internet users are now accessing the Net via broadband.

That’s 214 million broadband users, compared with 168 million at the end of 2007. This to me is tremendously impressive.

The gap between male and female users changed significantly in the recent years, with 46.4 percent of the netizens being women. People under the age of 30 in China make up 69% of the total Internet users. Like in other places, entertainment is a key application on the Net for Chinese users, but they are showing greater enthusiasm for online music.

Larger Chinese websites such as gaming site Tencent.com and search engine Baidu.com have thrived in the fast-growing market, with Baidu recently announcing an 87 per cent increase in quarterly profits.

Source : Digital Watch