After four days of reporting on the state of the tech industry in China, I can safely make this assertion...
China is a kingdom of geeks.
There are more than 350 million mobile phone users here -- that's more than any other country.
As for the Net, more than 100 million are plugged in, making China the second largest Internet market in the world.
Access to technology is cheap. A full desktop system from China's Lenovo can be had for less than $500.
And for those who can't afford a PC, there's more than two million cybercafés -- or "wang ba" -- across the country.
As a quick gauge of local "geekdom," I randomly pulled aside a few locals walking in Beijing's Wangfujing district to see what kind of gadgetry they had on them.
One young woman showed me not one but two mobile phones in her handbag -- a GSM phone that provides nationwide access, and a Xiao Ling Tong or Little Smart service that offers city-wide access at cheaper rates.
A man unzipped all the pockets in his black nylon fisherman's vest to reveal a cell phone, two digital cameras and a flash MP3 player.
This is Geek Nation, and the Geek Gold Rush is on.
Remember Baidu.com?
ReplyDelete"China's Google" soared to dizzying heights after its Nasdaq debut -- at one point making its CEO Robin Li worth 900 million dollars.
...
Google announced it was beefing up its China operations.
And Morgan Stanley kicked off coverage of China's Internet -- forecasting booming growth in online gaming and advertising.
Yet this is also an industry heavily regulated by the government. China has a highly sophisticated filtering system that restricts scores of Web sites.
In a cybercafé in Beijing's Chaoyang district, I tried bringing up the homepage of Amnesty International.
All I got was a blank page.
Clear rules spell out what can and can not be said in cyberspace, and what companies can and cannot do to make money.
This was posted on October 13, 2005.
ReplyDeleteToday, there are more than 863 million mobile phone users and 300 million Internet users in China. A PC costs less than $200 ...