China's Mobile Economy

Introduction

I was very pleased when Winston asked me to write this introduction for his new book on China's development in mobile internet and the new economy related to it. In my capacity as the President and CEO of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), I have been watching the development of the internet market closely. The China Internet Development Statistical Report published by the CNNIC over the past several years is one of the most authoritative data sources for studies on the development of the internet in China today. I am glad to see that this book has made references to many of the CNNIC's statistics and observations.

According to CNNIC data, at the end of 2015, China had 688 million internet users, and the number of mobile internet users reached 620 million, accounting for 90.1% of total internet users. This mobile internet population is incredibly large and continues to increase at a remarkable pace. As this book explains, the Chinese internet population has officially entered into the age of mobile internet. As more and more people use their mobile devices to chat with their social network, to find and share information, and to have fun anywhere and anytime, a new context of creating, delivering, and marketing content – and profiting from it – is emerging. Consumers want it, businesses demand it, and entrepreneurs are creating it. The migration of internet services to the new mobile environment is therefore inevitable.

The excellent analysis ...