China's Internet users soar as mobile drives growth

China had 649 million people online at the end of 2014, up by 31 million people from a year earlier. Mobile Internet users grew by 57 million people.

The number of Internet users in China continues to skyrocket.

China added 31 million Internet users for a total of 649 million, the country's China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported Tuesday, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the report. The country's total number of mobile Internet users jumped by 57 million to 557 million, CNNIC reported.






China's Internet growth over the last several years has been nothing short of staggering. The country adds tens of millions of people to the Web each year. But with a total population of over 1 billion, China still has a long way to go. China's Internet penetration rate at the end of 2014 was 47.9 percent. By contrast, more than 40 nations have at least a 70 percent penetration rate, according to an Internet Society report released last year.


Source:
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/chinas-internet-user-base-continues-to-soar-as-mobile-drives-growth/

China’s Great Firewall Gets Taller

China’s government has unveiled a smarter and stricter Internet filter, riling web users and widening the divide between China’s Internet and the World Wide Web.

A recent upgrade to China’s web filters, commonly referred to as the Great Firewall, has made it more difficult to use services called virtual private networks to circumvent the country’s blocks to U.S. services like Google and Facebook .






Chinese officials confirmed a crackdown on VPNs this week, saying that new measures were needed as the Internet evolved. In the past week, major VPN providers such as Astrill have reported disruptions to their services.

The move is further indication of China’s desire to create a parallel Internet environment that it can more easily control. The web filters serve a dual purpose of screening out content critical of the Chinese government and providing protection for China’s own growing web firms against stronger overseas rivals.


Source:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-great-firewall-gets-taller-1422607143

In China, US tech firms turn to domestic rivals for survival

(Reuters) - U.S. technology companies in China are forming alliances with domestic firms, hoping that having a local partner will make it easier to operate in the increasingly tough environment for foreign businesses in the world's second-biggesteconomy.

China's government has been openly pushing for the use of more Chinese and less foreign-made technology, both to grow its own tech sector and as a response to former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's leaks about widespread U.S. cyber surveillance.

Simmering tensions over the issue spilled into public view on Wednesday, when U.S. business lobbies urged Beijing to postpone implementing new policies to make China's finance sector more dependent on domestic technology.

In a letter to China's Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, chaired by President Xi Jinping, a group of U.S. business associations called for "urgent discussions" with China on worries that new government proposals are "discriminatory", require disclosure of sensitive information, and could isolate China's tech sector.


Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/29/us-china-tech-usa-idUSKBN0L21XF20150129

China likely to top US for Apple iPhone sales

The arrival of big-screen iPhones in the big China market promises a significant shift for the final quarter of 2014.

Apple's latest iPhones have proved popular in China. CNET
Apple's top iPhone market may no longer be the United States.






Set to announce its earnings for the December quarter on Tuesday, Apple could reveal that it sold more iPhones in China than in the US for the first time ever, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

Analysts at UBS predict that China captured 36 percent of all iPhone shipments last quarter, compared with 24 percent in the US. That's a huge change from the same period last year, when the US held 29 percent of iPhone shipments and China 22 percent.

Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin forecasts that Apple sold 2 million more iPhones in China than it did in North America.

Source:
http://www.cnet.com/news/china-likely-to-top-us-for-apple-iphone-sales/

Apple Inc's once slower Q2 now getting a boost from China's Lunar New Year holiday

With a rapidly emerging, vast middle class that is hungry for prestigious and fashionable products, China has already caught up with the United States in terms of Apple's shipment volumes, and promises to exceed American demand as it continues to grow.

Apple, unlike Microsoft, Google and most other western tech companies, has uniquely figured out how to create and maintain a strong demand for its products in China, in large part because Apple's design appeal and branding are harder to duplicate than the basic functionality of Microsoft's Office or Google's web services, which have already been replicated by Chinese firms.






Despite lots of focus on Xiaomi, Apple is selling increasing numbers of iPhones in China. Conversely, Microsoft and Google are finding it difficult to do any business inside the country, an their potential opportunities are rapidly being crowded out. In Google's case, it's losing in China largely because of Android's openness, rather than being assisted by its broad adoption as planned.


Source:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/27/apple-incs-once-slower-q2-now-getting-a-boost-from-chinas-lunar-new-year-holiday