Baidu smells fortune in mobile phone users
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-04-24 09:34
Mobile phone subscribers are expected to be the major source of internet
newcomers, Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu.com, said here Sunday at the
ongoing Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2006.
Robin Li, chairman and CEO of
Baidu.com [file photo] | Robin said the number of
internet users is only a little over one third of mobile phone users in China.
"It is an opportunity as well as a challenge", he said.
He predicted that with the application of the third generation of mobile
communications technology, denoted as 3G, mobile users become the most potential
users of the Internet.
It can increase China's internet users by 100 million to 200 million in two
or three years, Robin Li predicted.
According to statistics of the Ministry of Information Industry, China's
network users is nearly 100 million, the second most in the world only next to
the Unied States, while the number of mobile phone users is over 400 millions.
Asad Jamal, chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures, also said linking mobile
telecommunication to the Internet, China's online navigators is expected to grow
at an annual rate of 16 percent and hit 230 million by 2010.
By replacing traditional telecommunication with on-line service, 3G
technology has a bright future in China, said Asad.
Despite this, Li is not satisfied with China's Internet development as the
Internet is only available to 8 percent of the Chinese population while the
percentage of a mature market is over 60 percent.
Baidu is a searching engine listed in 2005 on the NASDAQ and its stock price
skyrocketed by 354 percent on the listing day.
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