ChinaInternetNetworkInformationCenter
Latest
Google's about to blacklist thousands of Chinese websites
China's relationship with America's tech firms is barely friendly, but things are about to get that little bit rougher. Google has announced that it'll stop trusting the security certificates provided by CNNIC, China's Internet Network Information Center. The dust-up between the two is pretty dry, but all you need to know right now is that if you visit a website that begins with https:// and ends with .cn, Chrome's about to bombard you with warning messages.
China now has more internet users on mobile devices than PCs
Want to know why traditionally PC-centric companies like Microsoft are pouring so much energy into their mobile efforts? Look no further than China, which now says that more of its residents are getting online with phones and tablets than PCs. Of the 632 million internet users recorded this June, 83 percent (527 million) were using mobile devices at least some of the time; meanwhile, 81 percent (512 million) hopped on using computers. Internet adoption was almost exclusively driven by ultra-portable gadgets, in fact. While overall internet use grew about 2.3 percent in the space of half a year, the number of mobile surfers jumped by 5.4 percent. The growth pattern suggests that many first-timers don't have a PC at all -- whatever's in their pockets may be the only way they connect to the digital world.
Smartphone overtakes PC as primary internet device in China
The Chinese government has issued a study revealing that the smartphone has overtaken the PC as the most popular device to surf the internet with. China's Internet Network Information Center revealed that 538 million people -- around 40 percent of the country have internet access. It recorded 388 million instances of surfing from a mobile handset, compared to the 380 recorded from PCs. Microblogs are also popular, with around 43.8 percent of phone users documenting the minutiae of their lives on Weibos like Sina and Tencent -- which reminds us, we need to tweet about what we're having for dinner.
Over 500 million Chinese citizens now connected to the web
The number of internet-connected Chinese citizens jumped 4 percent in 2012, pushing the country's total number of users over the 500 million mark. A report issued by the state-owned China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) reveals that over 37% (513 million people) living in The Middle Kingdom are now traversing the information superhighway. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these internet connections (close to 70%) can be attributed to mobile phones; as we've seen over the past few days, this mobile-centric user-base has generated very high demand for certain cellular products. Those scrutinizing the CINIC's report note that the statistics quoted by the Chinese government could be a wee bit on the high side. The report considers a user "internet connected" if they are over the age of six and have been online in the past half year. Hit the source link for more surfing stats from the Far East.
