Posted on 12/07/2006 4:46:01 AM PST by shrinkermd
When news came this week that a leading Chinese language search engine, Baidu, was set to enter the Japanese search market next year, it only affirmed one of the emerging ironies of this internet age.
Though backward in terms of traditional media, China is leaping ahead in internet development, so much so as to become, in effect, an exporter of its knowhow. To Japan yet.
Indeed, as a new study points out, at least among its affluent classes, China's internet culture has already leapt ahead of those of many developed counties with far more advanced traditional media infrastructures.
“It is interesting that in China they have gone from the introduction phase of the internet straight to the early adopter phase very fast,” says a spokesperson for Ofcom, Britain’s telecommunications watchdog agency. “It is explosive growth.”
China's broadband users actually lead the way in some key areas of internet usage, ahead even of the U.S., Britain and Japan. That's the finding of a recent Ofcom study comparing the communications sectors in seven key countries: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Japan and China.
For sure, China's broadband penetration is not anywhere near levels seen elsewhere, just 12 percent of households in 2005 versus more than 40 percent in the U.S., for example. But because China has such a huge population, the actual broadband audience is quite large, approaching 43 million households.
China’s broadband users led in watching or downloading music videos to their PCs, with some 76 percent of adults with broadband having done so, compared to 55 percent in Japan, the next highest country. At 43 percent, the U.S. ranked sixth of the seven countries studied.
The lead holds as well for watching or downloading clips or whole TV programs, with 70 percent of China’s broadband homes having done so at some point, compared to Japan, which again ranked second with 45 percent. They also top the list for downloading user-generated content and watching news programs online.
China’s broadband users are also are more likely to be members of online communities designed to allow file-sharing and are more likely to use sites designed to keep people in touch with friends and to meet new people.
Interestingly, the study finds that China's internet revolution is not being led by the 18- to 24-year-olds who typically lead in internet innnovation elsewhere.
In China its spans all age groups, and if anything it tilts to older adults.
The Ofcom study does not address just why Chinese broadband users are such heavy users of advanced internet offerings. But to some degree it surely reflects typical behavior of early adopters. But one could speculate that it's also being driven by an absence of traditional media that met some of those needs, with the effect of making those advanced offerings all that more attractive.
In any case, there's little doubt that the explosive growth will continue. Says the Ofcom spokesperson: “The growth has been extremely fast so far, and there is no evidence that it will stop anytime soon. There could be a point in time where it stops because others just can’t afford it.”
And I'm still waiting for Broadband to reach my neck of the woods in Southern Indiana!
I think setting standards in terms of gigabytes downloaded would have made sense if the 2 countries had the same IP enforcement laws. In China, you don't have any barring those that the Chicoms are afraid off...mostly data access, not enterntainment access.
To say that the Chinese are taking the competition to the JApanese is also flawed because Chinese market has market entry restrictions, Japan doesn't. Its easy to argue that its all on the internet, not knowing that China blocks access to gazillion internet sites. Besides a statement of intent isn't exactly indicative of success. What works in China needn't necessarily work in Japan. Cultural similarities have little to do with search engines. Baidu looks like a Google rip-off. It looked like that even before Google bought into it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.