USA Today, 19 July 2012

China is already the world’s largest Internet market, and — driven by increased smartphones sales — that vast ocean of Web users has grown 11% year-over-year to reach 538 million, according to a report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The data from the government-endorsed organization actually shows a slight decrease in the rate of growth, but China nonetheless added 25 million new Web users since the end of 2011 — taking Internet penetration to 39.9%.

Smartphones are the key driver of the Web user growth — for a host of reasons, notably more affordable cost — and the CNNIC reports that China now has 388.25 million mobile Internet users. That’s 39% of its 1 billion plus phone owners.

That figure means that the number of Internet users that have access to the Web on their phone has passed 70% for the first time. However, there is no indication of exactly how many Internet users are mobile-only, or how their activity varies across the two access points.

Mobile Internet users growth outstripped that of desktop-PC based users for the first time — during the first half of 2012 — but the figures are somewhat misleading as CNNIC breaks out laptop and PC-based users, when a fairer comparison would arguably be total mobile users vs total laptop/PC users.

Nonetheless, the comparison illustrates the role mobile is playing helping Chinese to go online.
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The report includes a bevvy of other statistics, including the fact that the average Chinese Internet users is now online for 19.9 hours a week, that’s up from 18.7 hours at the end of 2011.

Those aged 20-40 continue to dominate domestic Internet usage in China, and that age band accounts for 55.5% of the country’s online population.

China is increasingly becoming a market of real potential for tech firms. A number of initiatives, including InnoSpring’s U.S.-China accelerator and games publisher Yodo1, have sprouted to provide easier entries into China and its a route that is certain to appeal even further as Internet access continues to grow.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-07-19/china-internet-usage/56329450/1