The number of people accessing the Internet via cell phones will exceed the number doing so via personal computers in China in the coming two or three years, experts predicted yesterday.
Experts at a conference organized by the Beijing Communication Industry Association said the "mobile Internet" - online services accessible through mobile terminals such as cell phones - will also drive the Internet's popularization in the world's most populous nation.
"China's mobile Internet has entered a booming period. Mobile app downloads in the country last year accounted for 11 percent of the world's total, second only to the United States," said Chen Jiachun, vice director of the telecommunications development department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
"More than half the nation's netizens use the Internet with their cell phones, with each spending more than 100 minutes online on average every day," added Chen Jiangong, a researcher at the China Internet Network Information Center.
China had 513 million Internet users as of the end of last year, with 356 million getting online through cell phones, up 17.5 percent. Experts say the diversity of apps and cheaper access to the Internet with cell phones will also lure more users from their PCs to their mobile phones, as mobile services are expanding to such areas as cell phone payment, shopping and ticket-booking.
The number of people accessing the Internet via cell phones will exceed the number doing so via personal computers in China in the coming two or three years, experts predicted yesterday.
