China's internet users passing U.S.

sprague — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:26:57 GMT

The inevitable is happening, as today's WSJ and TechCrunch observe in the statistics showing China, at 210M users, is close to surpassing the U.S. in total population on the internet. If you don't already read Chinese, maybe this is a good time to set Windows Live Translator as your main page so you can keep track of the mainstream internet world.

I actually don't think this is all that big of a deal. Quantity of users doesn't matter nearly as much as how they access and what they do online. I'm not sure: do those user numbers include mobile phones, for example? Note that overall PC purchases in Japan are declining, as people find ways to get their IP fix elsewhere (mostly through phones).

Speaking of which, how long till some bright Chinese internet site starts publishing some web services that the rest of us will want. There are plenty of interesting APIs you could publish that are not language-dependent. I'm waiting for the day that Chinese web services that I want to consume surpass the U.S. -- I wonder if that will happen in my lifetime?

Richard Sprague WebLog : China

China's internet users passing U.S.