China may manufacture most of the world’s computers, but it develops
barely any of the software that runs on them. George Mackintosh, the
head of TestPlant, a software testing company, believes this will
change.
‘China is number one,’ he says. ‘There is a bigger opportunity here
than in India. A couple of years ago, you would say India was the
biggest market for our products. I don’t think it is now. What is
happening here is going to rocket past India because software is going
mobile.’
About 277m Chinese are now using their mobile phones to access the
internet, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre.
More than half of China’s computer users, in fact, don’t have a
computer. Instead, they are taking the cheap option of using their
phones to get online.