China Predicts the Growth of Mobile Internet
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | September 11, 2006 | Share This
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One of the most unique things about the Chinese Internet market is that it’s, well, uniquely Chinese. Baidu is preferred over Google, TaoBao over ebay, and Sina is apparently the new MSN (though that one comes with a little more controversy). Pretty much every popular web service that started in the U.S. has been translated into its chinese equivalent - a very good list of which can be found here at Read/Write Web. In an article about China’s growing middle class, the Wall Street Journal expains why local companies rule the market:
“Part of the reason for the locals’ success is that China’s Internet regulators have made it difficult for foreigners to participate in Internet businesses — setting limits on foreign ownership, for example, and forcing companies that provide online content to adapt to Chinese censorship rules. Equally critical to success, analysts and executives say, is the ability of domestic companies to understand and adapt to some of the other peculiarities of China’s market.”
One of those peculiarities is a preference for DSL and wireless over cable internet. Mobile technologies, in particular, have been a catalyst for Internet adoption. China Mobile is the leading provider of wireless in China, and the largest cellular operator in the world. With a current penetration rate of only 33%, the industry shows tremendous room for growth. (see the full article on the investment potential of China Mobile at the Motley Fool) As Baidu CEO Robin Lee predicts, “with the application of the third generation of mobile communications technology, denoted as 3G, mobile users become the most potential users of the Internet.” Thus, many Chinese web-based companies are beefing up their services to be compatible with hand-held devices. Video and music uploads, photo sharing, financial services, file-streaming, advertising, and even “moblogging” are available to subscribers through broadband-enabled phones.
The simultaneous explosion of home-grown internet services and mobile adoption is putting China in an interesting position as an industry forecaster. China’s example is especially pertinent to countries with socioeconomic conditions that favor wireless internet over cable. The top ten countries for volume of new connections are China, India, Russia, USA, Pakistan, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh — all markets with relatively low levels of penetration (from Geekzone). China and India, however, account for 1/4th of all new mobile connections, with China alone bringing nearly 5 million new mobile subscribers per month.
For the world Internet market, this means that broadband-enabled mobile subscribers could one day account for the majority of users. If American companies want to compete internationally, they will need to pay more attention to specifications of web browsing on cell phones. In addition to radical changes to site architecture and usability standards, web-based businesses will have to consider new types of search behavior and consumer preferences. Could this mean greater influence of local sites in search engine results? More demand for click-to-call? GPS-based geographic tagging?
One thing that is certain, however, is the growing global trend in favor of mobile over PC. It will be interesting to see how U.S. companies respond as China becomes the largest Internet market and mobile subscriber base (see developments such as Google Mobile Ads, Mobile ESPN, and the much rumored Apple iPhone). On the flip side, if Chinese companies want to truly become industry leaders, they’ll need to: a) translate their services to a global audience, b) come up with services that aren’t just spinoffs of foreign technologies, and c) ditch the censorship. The last one, especially, will make or break Chinese Internet dominance - for, the same government restrictions that allow local businesses to succeed within China, will eventually keep them from expanding beyond it.
Topics: Wireless & Mobile |
not good is so bad mobile in china
One thing that is certain, however, is the growing global trend in favor of mobile over PC. It will be interesting to see how U.S. companies respond as China becomes the largest Internet market and mobile subscriber base (see developments such as Google Mobile Ads, Mobile ESPN, and the much rumored Apple iPhone).
One of the most unique things about the Chinese Internet market is that it’s, well, uniquely Chinese. Baidu is preferred over Google, TaoBao over ebay, and Sina is apparently the new MSN (though that one comes with a little more controversy).
Baidu in China is like Google in the US. Keywords advertisement on Baidu in China has been proven to be as effective as keyword advertisement on Google in the US. If you had to choose
one search engine to advertise in China, you should choose Baidu AmeriChinaB2B Inc, which runs the most visited US-China business to business (B2B) web platforms, now offers services to enable US businesses to advertise on Baidu.com. These services will help US businesses export to China, the world’s fastest growing market. For more information, please check: http://www.acb2b.com and http://www.acb2b.cn