Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google China, predicts a quarter of China’s 1.3 billion people will be online by year’s end.
At the same time the number of mobile subscribers is expected to grow to 738 million by 2010. Which is more than double the population of the United States.
Apple’s new 3G iPhone offers not just chat but Internet access.
The relatively inexpensive iPhone caters to the hundreds of millions of people who will trade in their current cellphones for their first ever opportunity of owning a mini-computer.
The iPhone launch in China represents the most significant technological product release of the last few decades. Steve Jobs, on introducing the 3G iPhone, clearly stated that he sees China iPhone distribution deals being completed by year end.
The only question remaining is whether the new iPhone will cater for China’s own, home-grown 3G standard, TD-SCDMA.
Source: Seeking Alpha