Article you might find interesting...No commentary just information...
"Bringing the Net to China"
One entrepreneur believes that TV is the way to go, because computers cost too much for most Chinese.
By Joe McDonald
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHANGHAI, China - Lawrence Cheung wants to bring the Internet into Chinese living rooms. But first, he has to give the Chinese people a reason and a way to log on.
The majority of Web sites are in English, a language most Chinese don't speak. And few homes in China have computers.
Cheung's answer is Shanghai WebTV, a company that is creating Chinese Web sites for Internet novices to surf using only a TV set, a joystick and a button.
"A lot of people want to get on the Net but they say: 'I can't use a computer; I can't read English.' I want to bridge that gap," said Cheung, 31, who left the Hong Kong branch of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency to start Shanghai WebTV with two partners.
Cheung's firm is one of many companies - small start-ups and established giants such as Microsoft - that are trying to eliminate technical, language and political barriers and grab a share of the Internet market in this country.
That market is expected to boom in the coming years. Chinese leaders are encouraging Internet use as a tool for building the high-tech industry. Internet cafes, where customers can buy time on a terminal, are common in major cities. State-owned China Telecom cut access rates in half recently to encourage use and spur innovation.
There are obstacles to be overcome. The communist government remains wary of the potential for the Internet to spread dissent and wants to protect its infant information industry from foreign competitors.
Still, China's population of Internet users grew fourfold last year to 2.1 million. Another 1.5 million are expected to sign up this year. Personal-computer sales grew 14 percent last year to 40.5 billion yuan, the equivalent of $4.9 billion, according to the consulting firm International Data Corp.
"If this trend continues, it's very likely that China will be the second-largest market in the world in a few years," said Jim Jarrett, president of U.S. chip-maker Intel Corp.'s China division.
Access to that promising market for foreign companies is slightly easier since regulators allowed a handful of joint ventures such as Shanghai WebTV, whose Chinese partner is a Shanghai city government agency.
In the biggest deal, Microsoft and China Telecom, which runs China's main online network, said they will launch a TV-based Internet service that could reach millions of users. Microsoft says equipment should go on sale later this year.
A TV-based system has obvious appeal in China. The 9,000 yuan, or $1,100, price of a basic PC is far above the national average income of 6,500 yuan, or $785, a year. By contrast, Shanghai WebTV says its receivers could cost as little as 1,500 yuan, or $180.
Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard Co. and other industry leaders have research labs in China, in part to tailor products for Chinese needs. In Shanghai, 150 Intel researchers are trying to perfect technology to make computers respond to spoken commands.
"In China, I think it's much better if we can talk to a computer rather than use a keyboard, which is not natural for a Chinese," said Albert Yu, the Shanghai-born senior vice president of Intel.
China has an Internet search engine, online shopping for books and stocks, and Web sites for soccer teams, newspapers and government agencies - all in Chinese. Dialing a three-digit phone number anywhere nationwide connects users to the local node of the China Telecom network.
The system is far from perfect. Users complain about high access fees and poor service at many of China's more than 200 local Internet service providers. Sites regarded as pornographic or politically dangerous are blocked.
But the biggest complaint is language. In a government survey in December, 20 percent of users said the Internet had too little Chinese-language material.
Shanghai WebTV's offerings include sports, interactive games, stock market information and English lessons.
The company WebTV has China's first license for e-commerce, such as online shopping, Cheung said, but he is reluctant to use it until the undeveloped Chinese delivery industry can guarantee that buyers will get the goods.
It isn't clear, anyway, whether China is ready for online shopping. Credit cards are rare, and 75 percent of Net users have family incomes of less than 2,000 yuan, or $250 a month, the government says.
"The first stage is to get to know foreign technology. The next is to adapt it to Chinese characteristics. We haven't reached that point yet," Cheung said.
|
