According to stats compiled by
vnunet.com, China will overtake the US next year to become the world’s largest
broadband internet market:
“The number of broadband subscribers in China is growing at a staggering 79 per cent
annually, and will reach 79 million in 2007, consulting firm Ovum predicted in research
released today.
Recent estimates from Leichtman Research suggest that the number of broadband
connections in the US, currently the world’s largest market, is around 51 million.”
Like
John Dowdell, I believe this will provide many opportunities to developers all over
the world. The globalisation of web apps is a trend that I’ve been monitoring closely,
particularly in my ongoing series on International Web Apps.
In my post Top
Web Apps in China, I discussed how China’s mobile sector currently has more
innovation than the general Web sector – because of the high penetration rate of mobile
handsets and highly developed short message, ringtone and ringback tone services. However
the risks for non-Chinese people in this market include tough government regulations,
plus the language and cultural barriers. I also noted in that post that China already has
some very big Internet companies – Baidu, Sina, Sohu among
them. Check out my China web app
overview for more details.
