Paul Denlinger

China's Internet User Base Is Growing Faster Than Mobile

The mobile phone has grown faster in China, at least initially, because voice was the communications method of choice for many non-technical buyers. Everyone was familiar with the phone interface; only office workers and government workers were the first ones familiar with Windows. Over the past ten years, that base has expanded exponentially to the rest of the population, and there are Internet cafes to be found in every Chinese city and village. Now, DSL is being made more affordable for homes. Many Chinese parents, for example, would prefer that their child access the Internet from home than from Internet cafes, which have a bad reputation.
The comparison between mobile and Internet communications will soon be rendered moot as the two merge, as they have on the iPhone platform. It is estimated that there are about 800K cracked iPhones in use in China. Although the iPhone is a niche device now, it would be safe to say that Apple will come out with cheaper models in the future, and other companies, such as Nokia, will also abandon WAP as 3G gets rolled out in China. Eventually, mobile and the Internet will be one and the same, and the comparisons will be completely dated. If you come to Shanghai and Beijing and just walk around, you will see that that is already taking place.