China Web 2.0 Review recently noted two reports from research firm CNNIC on consumer trends in the country's usage of mobile Internet. The findings come from a survey was conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Some key findings were: By the end of 2008, there were already over 640 million mobile users in China and 117.6 million of these users used mobile devices to access Internet in previous six months, more than doubled from a year ago. About 34% of China's mobile Internet users are active mobile Internet users everyday. About 74.6% of China's mobile Internet users are male and 70.8% were under 19 years old. Mobile instant messenger is the most popular mobile Internet application with about 31.2% penetration rate. About 39.6% of users are reading Mobile Newspapers, which is a service by China's mobile carriers; About 15.7% users are using mobile video service, which is unexpectedly high since there was no 3G network available. Mobile novel service is quite popular in China with 27.7% usage rate. ...read more

The Shanghai Daily recently reported the city's software industry revenue jumped 25.3 percent year-on-year in 2008, double the city's gross domestic product growth rate, despite the influence of the global financial crisis. In 2008, the industry's total revenues reached 100.48 billion yuan (US$14.77 billion) while the city's GDP rose 9.7 percent. Meanwhile, software exports were valued at US$757 million in 2008, a jump of 28.7 percent year-on-year. Shao Zhiqing, vice director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Informatization Commission, is quoted as saying, "It was not an easy year for the industry as the global economy slumped. We are glad software enterprises continued to grow amid the tough environment." According to Shao, the city government will encourage more M&A; activity in the industry and it will continue to support the development of the software industry, promote innovations and offer a tax rebate. ...read more

Long Circle provides outsourced engineering services to companies whose products and services rely on embedded software and hardware technology. Long Circle and the Long Circle China Center of Excellence enables U.S. companies to reduce costs, increase engineering bandwidth, and broaden market reach by providing low-risk, strategic access to china's engineering talent, manufacting industry, and emerging markets. To learn more about Long Circle, visithttp://www.longcircle.com. ...read more