China now has over 500 million mobile Internet users

According to Chinese authorities, China now has 557 million unique mobile Internet users. That's an 11.4% increase over the previous measurement a year or so before. This is an important metric to keep in mind as the smartphone and tablet market booms in China, but equally important for commerce. The same report also notes that China had roughly 649 million Internet users total, and that online-to-offline businesses (those where you buy in-app but receive physical goods or services) is growing in a big way.

This report, released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), also details some app usage statistics. Just under 91% of Chinese smartphone users have a dedicated messaging app they like to use. Apps like WeChat attract big numbers in China.

Mobile payment processing also did well, but travel booking also seems to be a growing fad in China. A nearly 200% increase in travel bookings via mobile were noted in the study.

The CNNIC also says nearly 40% of smartphone users in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai use online-to-offline (O2O) services. Smaller cities are also seeing an increase in O2O transactions, likely scaling as Internet usage does.

About half of China is online, now, as the study also claims 47.9% of the population has Internet access.

Source: CNNIC

Via: TechCrunch