For the first time, more Chinese
people are gaining access to the
Internet with mobile phones
than with personal computers.
The shift is significant, if
expected, in China, which is the
world’s biggest market for both
Internet and smartphone users.
China had 632 million Internet
users at the end of June, an
increase of 14.4 million since the
end of December, according to a
semiannual report published on
Monday by the official China
Internet Network Information
Center, which is known as
CNNIC. Of those, 83.4 percent
reported gaining access to the
Internet with mobile phones,
exceeding for the first time the
80.9 percent who reported using
computers to go online.
The results of the survey showed
that more Chinese were heading
online to send instant messages
(through popular mobile apps
like Tencent’s Weixin, or
WeChat), listen to music, play
video games and read.
E-commerce is also growing
strongly, a good sign for online
retailers like Alibaba Group and
JD.com. And the number of
people making online payments
rose the fastest among all types
of Internet use, increasing 12.3
percent since December to 292
million people.
For the first time, CNNIC also
tallied the number of people
investing in online wealth
management products like Yu’e
Bao, a popular, high-interest
money market fund offered by
Alibaba. China had 63.8 million
such investors at the end of
June, accounting for 10 percent
of total Internet users.
Declines in use were registered
in only two categories: social
networking websites, on which
the number of users declined 7.4
percent to 257 million; and
microblogs, like Sina Weibo,
whose users fell 1.9 percent to
275 million, probably reflecting
the effects of a government
crackdown that started last
year.
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