More smartphones were shipped to China in Q3 2011 than to the US

"China has overtaken the U.S. as the largest market for smartphones by volume, according to one firm’s estimates.
Nearly 24 million smartphones were shipped to providers in China during the third quarter of 2011, compared to 23.3 million units in the U.S., data from Boston-based research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics suggests.The growth of China’s smartphone market has been significant, up 58% from just the previous quarter. Shipments of smartphones in the U.S. fell 7% from Q2 2011.
(Note the firm’s estimates only calculate the number of devices shipped, not sold, and that the U.S. still leads the market by smartphone revenue.)"
Source:  Mashable, 23rd November 2011

There are 110m 3G subscriptions in China

"Of the combined total of 109.67 mln 3G subs, China Mobile holds 41.3%, China Unicom 30.2%, and China Telecom 28.4%. Of total new mobile subs added in October, China Mobile took 44.57%, dropping its share of China's total mobile user base to 67.14%. China Unicom's share of the total mobile user base rose to 20.22%, while China Telecom's share increased for the 34th straight month, rising from 12.45% at the end of September to 12.64% at the end of October."

Source:  Marbridge Consulting, 21st November 2011

Chinese microblogging platform Weibo has 250m users

"Chinese internet company Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) has announced in its Q3 2011 earnings call that users on its Weibo microblogging platform exceeded 227 mln as of the end of September and recently reached 250 mln. Investment in marketing and R&D for Weibo more than doubled compared to Q3 2010, and CEO and president Charles Chao said costs will continue to rise over the next few quarters as Sina invests further in the platform.
As of the end of September, average daily posts rose from 75 mln to 86 mln, up 15% YoY. Overall traffic to the platform rose 23% YoY."

Source:  China News, Via Marbridge Daily, 9th November 2011

2/3 of college students would rather have an internet connection than a car

Click to enlarge

Source:  Taken from Cisco's World Technology Report, September 2011
Press release here
Methodology - 1,400 college students aged 18-23 & 1400 young professionals under 30.
The survey was translated into local languages and fielded in 14 countries to gain approximately
100 completes for each subgroup in each country
Countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy,
Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia

Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE is now the 4th largest globally, by volume

"According to new global handset market figures released yesterday by market research firm IDC, Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer ZTE had Q3 2011 shipments of 19.1 mln handsets, surpassing Apple to gain a firm fourth-place position with 4.9% of the global market. Nokia and Samsung maintained the first- and second-place positions; LG, in third place, had a 5.4% share of the market. ZTE said that it plans to become one of the world's top three handset makers by shipments over the next three to five years."

Source;  Data from IDC, reported by Beijing News, via Marbridge Daily, 2nd November 2011

Entertainment (e.g. Netflix) accounts for 60% of US web traffic at peak times

"Within fixed networks in the United States, Real-Time Entertainment applications are the primary drivers of network capacity requirements, accounting for 60% of peak downstream traffic, up from 50% in 2010. Rate-adaptive video represents the majority of video bandwidth, with Netflix alone representing 32.7% of peak downstream traffic, a relative increase of more than 10% since spring.
We have entered the “Post-PC Era”, as the majority of Real-Time Entertainment traffic (55%, by volume) is destined for game consoles, set-top boxes, smart TVs, and mobile devices being used in the home, with only 45% actually going to desktop and laptop computers over North American fixed networks.
Video in mobile networks continues to gain momentum.  In North America, Real-Time Entertainment is now 32.6% of peak downstream traffic, while in Asia Pacific it is 41.8%.  The largest contributor is YouTube, and other applications like peercasting PPStream and Netflix are making inroads.
Mobile Marketplace traffic accounts for 9.4% of peak downstream usage in APAC and 5.8% in North America, led in both cases by Apple and Google. Applications like Skype and WhatsApp Messenger, that replace the traditional revenue sources of voice and texting, are being installed by growing numbers of subscribers.
In North America on fixed networks, mean usage remained generally flat at the high end (22.7 GB from 23.0 GB reported in May) and median usage dropped to 5.8 GB from 7.0 GB. This shows that while subscribers aren’t using more traffic overall the usage gap between heavy and light users is broadening and that more data is being used during the small peak period window.  In Asia-Pacific fixed networks, median monthly usage is 17.7 GB, which is the largest we have observed."

Source:  Data from Sandvine, reported in a press release, 26th October 2011

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone manufacturer

"Samsung has overtaken Apple in worldwide smartphone shipments after Apple suffered its lowest levels of shipments in two years, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Global smartphone shipments grew 44% year-on-year to reach a record 117 million units in the third quarter of 2011, said the survey. Samsung shipped 28 million smartphones, grabbing 24% market share and overtaking Apple.
[...]
Apple's share of the tablet market has also shrunk by 29% to 67%, as Google's mobile operating system (OS) Android took a chunk out of the company's global sales during the last quarter this year.
Nokia's market share fell from 33% in the same period in 2010 to 14% in 2011. Strategy Analytics believes Nokia's new Lumia smartphone range, running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 OS, could drive recovery for Nokia's marketshare.
Global handset shipments grew 14% in the third quarter of 2011 to reach 390 million units."
Source:  Computer Weekly, 31st October 2011

3G penetration by market, Q2 2011

Click to enlarge

Source:  Data from Informa & WCIS+, taken from Mary Meeker's Internet Trends presentation 2011, KPCB, October 2011

340 new smartphone models were released in China in Q1-Q3 2011

"Cao Shumin, director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's (MIIT) China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR), said recently that between Q1-Q3 this year, 340 new smartphone models were released on the China market, up 100% YoY. Cao said that smartphones held 10% of the total handset market during the same period, adding that 80% of domestic smartphones sold were Android-based.
Domestic smartphone production grew rapidly between Q1-Q3 2011 to reach 70 mln units, or 22% of all new handsets, nearly double that for the first nine months of 2010. Cao said that China's domestic tablet market is still in its early stages, but that currently there are about 20 models that combined for total production of approximately 1 mln units over the first nine months of 2011."

Source:  Zol.com.cn, via Marbridge Daily, 21st October 2011

Telecom company China Mobile has 9.5m customers with iPhones

"In a speech yesterday at the CEO Manpower Conference 2011 hosted by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) chairman Wang Jianzhou said that the mobile operator currently adds more than 1 mln new iPhone users each month, and was serving a total of 9.5 mln iPhone users as of the end of September."
Source:  ChinaNews.com via Maarbridge Dailey, 13th October 2011

Smartphone penetration in APAC by market

I created this chart with Google's new online mobile data too.  Data comes from Google and Ipsos.

Click to Enlarge

There are lots of other markets & measures.  Create your ownhere.
Source:  Google, Ipsos & MMA 2011.  Full info here

There are 94m 3G subscriptions in China

"Of the combined total of 93.8 mln 3G subs, China Mobile holds 43%, China Unicom 29.7%, and China Telecom 27.2%."
Source:  Data from Marbridge Consulting, 20th September 2011
Follow the link for lots more mobile data

Super Girl, the Chinese version of Pop Idol, acheived an audience of 400m in 2005

"Super Girl has attracted regulatory scrutiny before. The show was first launched in 2004 and hit its 400m viewership peak in the final episode of the 2005 season, but was suspended once before and repeatedly criticised. Aside from unease about creating stars with the help of audience votes, officials criticised it as profane and “unhealthy”."

Source:  Financial Times, 19th September 2011

There are 485m internet users in China

"The number of Internet surfers in China increased to an estimated 485 million as of the end of June 2011, according to the latest semiannual survey conducted by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
The number of Internet surfers rose 6.1% from half year ago and was equivalent to a user density or penetration rate (divided by population) of 36.2%, CNNIC indicated. Of the Internet surfers, 389.77 million used broadband fixed-line access modes (xDSL, cable modem, fiber-optic and dedicated line) at home and 317.68 million used handsets for mobile access. The average time spent using the Internet was 18.7 hours."

Source:  Data from the CNNIC, reported by DigiTimes, 12th August 2011

There are more than 5m online sellers in China

"Zhang Qiaoli uses her spare bedroom for storing her stock of ladies' fashion-wear and photo shoots.
She is one of more than five million small online stores operating across China, some from small apartments or even college dormitories.
She buys dresses and accessories wholesale; using the website Taobao, she sells them on as the Kitty Lover range, at prices under $10.
Taobao is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the brainchild of founder Jack Ma. It is a free-to-use online marketplace with some 800 million product lines - from food to clothes to technology.
It boasts 50 million unique visitors a day and is the top destination for three quarters of the country's online shoppers.
Running Kitty Lover allows Ms Zhang to work from home and take care of her baby son - though it's more than a hobby.
"Of course it's quite competitive, because there are hundreds of new stores opening every day on Taobao," says Ms Zhang."

Source:  BBC News, 30th August 2011

Over 30,000 companies have a presence on Chinese microblogging site Sina

"Sina national sales manager Lee would like to say that there have been over 30,000 companies settled Sina microblogging, covering the automotive, financial, FMCG and other industries. Meanwhile reporter learned, Sina Bo Enterprise has begun testing a part of different sizes in different industries have begun to try to use Enterprise Edition Sina microblogging marketing.
Since August 2009 Sina microblogging has been released, has attracted industry-wide attention and discussion. And microblogging (weibo.com) rapid growth, let it become the most influential Internet portal, to bring the marketing effect of increasing, gradually changing the depth of marketing."
Source:  Sina News, 8th July 2011, translated through Google Translate

Baidu's Q2 Profits rose 95% Y-o-Y

"Chinese internet company Baidu today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011. Total revenues in Q2 2011 were RMB 3.415 bln (USD 528.4 mln), a 78.4% increase from Q2 2010.
Net income in Q2 2011 was RMB 1.633 bln (USD 252.6 mln), a 95.0% increase from Q2 2010.
Online marketing revenues for Q2 2011 were RMB 3.414 bln (USD 528.3 mln), representing a 78.4% increase from Q2 2010. Baidu had approximately 298,000 active online marketing customers in Q2 2011, representing a 17.3% increase from Q2 2010 and an 8.8% increase from Q1 2011. Revenue per online marketing customer for the second quarter was approximately RMB 11,500 (USD 1,779), a 53.3% increase from Q2 2010 and a 29.2% increase from Q1 2011."
Source:  Marbridge Daily, 25th July 2011

Nearly half of consumers in Asia Pacific intend to buy a smartphone in 2011

"Penetration of smartphones stands at more than 40 percent in Western Europe and 38 percent in the U.S. as consumers snap up the latest models and download apps. While fewer than 20 percent of Asia Pacific mobile users currently have smartphones, interest in upgrading is high: nearly half of consumers intend on buying a smartphone in 2011, according to Nielsen research.
In our recent brand surveys, iPhone was second amongst all handset brands in Vietnam in terms of top-of-mind recall, while in Indonesia BlackBerry was in fourth place, ahead of many longer established handset brands. Mind share will likely play a key role in determining which brands will do well in the region, and the iPhone and BlackBerry have much higher mind share relative to their current market positions. For example, in Malaysia, Apple and BlackBerry only have 3 percent and 1 percent share of the smartphone market respectively. But 17 percent and 11 percent of smartphone users would choose Apple and BlackBerry, respectively, as a first choice for their next phone."

Source:  Blog post by Nielsen, 12th July 2011

Chinese mobile microblog Yidong Weibo has 66m registered users

"Hang Guoqiang, head of China Mobile's mobile internet base and general manager of Guangdong Mobile's data division operations center, recently disclosed that as of May 2011, registered users of the operator's Yidong Weibo ("Mobile Microblog," formerly 139 Shuike) microblogging platform reached 65.85 mln, with monthly active users reaching 14.8 mln, and daily postings reaching 2 mln."

Source:  Sohu IT, via Marbridge Daily, 4th July 2011

There are 477m people online in China

"The number of Internet users in China reached 477 million at the end of March and websites registered with the proper authorities climbed to 3.82 million, a senior telecommunication official said Monday.
Wang Jianwen, deputy head of the Telecommunications Administration Bureau under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, announced the figures while addressing a meeting on creating a healthy online environment."

Source:  Xinhuanet, 16th May 2011

Earlier - January - 457m (source - CNNIC)