Frost & Sullivan: China's mobile browser active users are expected to reach 360 million in 2012

Recently, the world-renowned market research organization Frost & Sullivan (hereinafter referred to as Sullivan) released the "2011-2012 China Mobile Browser Market Analysis Report". The report predicts that the number of active users of mobile browsers in China is expected to reach 360 million in 2012, and the market size will reach 1.11 billion yuan.

It also pointed out that the number of third-party browser users has far exceeded that of mobile phone built-in browsers, accounting for 74.8%. In the third-party browser market, UC Browser ranks first with a share of 65.7%, followed by Mobile QQ Browser and Opera Mini in second and third place.

With the development of mobile Internet, the important entry status of mobile browsers has been valued by the entire industry. In addition to the old manufacturers UC and Opera, Tencent and 3G Portal have successively launched their own mobile browser products in recent years. At the same time, Baidu, 360 and other manufacturers have also entered the mobile browser market. With more and more competitors joining, the current mobile browser market is extremely competitive, forming three major camps: mobile terminal (operating system) manufacturers (such as Apple, Google), Internet companies (such as Baidu, Tencent), and professional browser manufacturers (such as UC, Opera).

Sullivan's report pointed out that third-party browsers are increasingly favored by mobile browser users because of their better user experience and rendering mode, as well as the advantage of saving traffic compared to built-in browsers. Data shows that UC Browser, a veteran mobile browser manufacturer, still has the highest user penetration rate in the third-party browser market. In terms of specific market share, UC Browser ranked first with a share of 65.3%, leading the market in all aspects. Mobile QQ Browser ranked second with 27.9%, followed by Opera Mini and Go Browser with shares of 3.4% and 1.7% respectively.

The 30th China Internet Development Statistical Report released by CNNIC recently shows that by the end of June 2012, the number of Chinese Internet users reached 538 million, of which 388 million were mobile Internet users. Mobile phones have become the most active Internet terminal. Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, also pointed out:

"The number of mobile terminals in China will be three times that of PC terminals, and the time that mobile terminals are with consumers is five times that of PC terminals. Based on this calculation, the time that mobile terminals are with consumers in China is 15 times that of PC terminals."

As mobile phones become the most active network terminals, mobile browsers have become more strategically important as the gateway to the mobile Internet. In the future, users will have higher and more comprehensive demands for mobile browsers, and the mobile browser market will usher in rapid growth, and the market pie will enter a period of rapid expansion. The "2011-2012 China Mobile Browser Market Analysis Report" shows that the scale of China's mobile browser market reached 680 million yuan in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 63.1%, and this year this figure will reach 1.11 billion yuan.

Frost & Sullivan Information and Communications Technology Senior Analyst Hu Haoyong believes:

"With the in-depth development of mobile Internet, the status of mobile browsers as portals is becoming more and more important. From the recent competition and cooperation among various parties in the industry, we can find that the thinking of various participants is becoming more and more open, and has risen from simple product competition to market strategy competition. The major players have done very well in channel promotion and payment innovation, which is very important. On the other hand, the essence of the product lies in the user experience. Only by grasping the technical direction and continuously launching user-recognized functions can we stand out in this market."

Frost & Sullivan was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA. It has 31 branches in 21 countries around the world. In China, Frost & Sullivan mainly provides Chinese market strategy, professional management consulting and marketing consulting services to operators, equipment manufacturers, software vendors, value-added service providers and integrators.

via: Leifeng.com