Latest stats show that China is the biggest using internet nation

A recent information week article reports that Chinese consulting and research firm BDA have announced that more people connect to the web in China than in any other country in the world. China has now surpassed the US as the biggest using internet nation.

At the end of 2007 Nielsen/NetRatings counted 216 million US internet users while the China Internet Network Information Centre reported 210 million users. BDA reports that assuming the markets have continued to grow at the same rates as last year, China now has more Internet users than the United States.

Naturally these numbers offer various market prospects, however BDA reported that the quality of content, advertising, and e-commerce is better in the US. They predict that e-commerce will boom in China as businesses and retailers take advantage of the country’s large and growing population of Internet users.
Perhaps even more interesting was the news that China has the world’s largest number of mobile phone users, with around a staggering 560 million subscribers.

On this point BDA chairman Duncan Clark said, “Now it adds Internet users to its gold medal collection. While the volume of communications users will continue to boom, the focus now in China will increasingly shift to deriving greater value from these consumers.” 

Clark added that a strong economy, investments in broadband infrastructure, and consumer demand for online games, instant messaging, online music and video, and other applications have driven increased Internet use in China. He feels that China will help create innovative applications and shape consumer trends worldwide.