Most online Chinese youth access Net via phone

Nearly half of China’s 400+ million Net users are under 25, and 75% of those U25s are accessing the Web on their mobile phones, reports Agence France Presse, citing a new survey by the China Internet Network Information Centre. Nearly 70% of those Chinese youth go online via desktop computers, suggesting many use both, but this was the first time research showed that phones were the No. 1 platform for Net use. The study also found that youth use the Web largely to listen to music, play games, and watch video clips, and more rural than urban youth are using phones for Net access (because computers are fewer and farther between in the countryside). “The poll offers further proof of the importance of the burgeoning mobile Internet market in China, which has the world’s largest number of mobile phone subscribers at more than 765 million.” The Age in Australia has since reported that China’s number of Net users is up to 404 million, or nearly a third of the country’s population, and that’s up from 385 million at the end of December. The Chinese government says 346 million of current Net users have broadband access. [Thanks to QuickLinks for pointing this news out.]