DailyTech - China's Number of Internet Users Rises 10 Percent in 2012

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Internet China's Number of Internet Users Rises 10 Percent in 2012
Tiffany Kaiser - January 15, 2013 9:41 AM

1 comment(s) - last by Ammohunt.. on Jan 15 at 11:21 AM

(Source: static.guim.co.uk)

The total number of users is now 564 million

Despite the amount of censorship tied to China's internet access, the number of citizens using Web services in the country increased last year.

According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of Chinese citizens accessing the Web increased by 10 percent, or 51 million users, to a total of 564 million in 2012. Mobile Web access rose 18.1 percent to a total of 420 million Chinese residents.

China is known for censoring its Web offerings to citizens in order to prevent rumors about the government from circulating. Chinese citizens cannot access pages like Facebook or Twitter for public forums.

Last month, it was reported that China wanted the real names of citizens when signing up with internet providers. This means that any Chinese resident would have to show their government-issued identity cards when entering into contracts for both fixed line and mobile Internet access.

However, it appears users in China still want to access the Web -- and device makers like Apple are taking notice.

Just last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook made his second trip to China in under a year in order to broad Apple's business in China, including the information technology industry and global mobile communications. Cook made his first trip to China in March 2012, and since then, Apple has increased its number of stores in China from six to 11.

Source: Yahoo News