back to article Half of Chinese are downloading mobile apps

Research firm Canalys reckons that over half of Chinese people surveyed have downloaded applications onto their phones - more than twice the level of downloads seen in Europe. Not only that, but while their European contemporaries are downloading fart generators and time-filling games onto smartphones the Chinese are reading …

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  1. Ian Ferguson
    FAIL

    Clarification

    I suspect this research actually shows that half of Chinese people surveyed WHO OWN PHONES have downloaded applications.

    The have / have not divide in China is MUCH more skewed towards the latter than it is in Europe, so these conclusions aren't exactly objective.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      perhaps YOU are the fail

      Like Russia, there is very little infrastructure in China for household "land line" phones; everyone has a mobile.

      Even when landlines are available (usually in new developments), the quality of service is poor; my Chinese girlfriend lives in a brand new apartment block and her internet connection regularly fails while we are trying to talk (using QQ naturally!!)

      Outside of the cities you have a choice, a mobile or nothing!!

      People often live in a breeze-block box with no running water or sewage system, although there is often a HUGE satellite dish on the roof (or propped up on the side of the building if the structure is too dodgy to support the weight).

    2. Daniel Evans

      Or...

      Half of people who do surveys on said "QZone", or on the internet, or...

      I'm sure, if you travelled far enough into "Generic Cold Mountainous Rural Area", you could find 1515 people who have never bought an app!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Yep

    And the other half are hacking our google accounts it seems.

  3. AndyH
    Thumb Down

    More Chinese??

    "Almost 70 per cent of the Chinese who download applications are reading books on their phones, according to survey of 1,515 people in China carried out by Canalys."

    Surely there are more that 1,515 people in China? Not exactly a cross section of their population? Was this a free survey or did they have to answer what the nice minder advised them?

    1. Thecowking

      Yeah a minder...

      ...It's a sodding phone survey.

      Ever been to China? I've lived there, it's amazing how often I wasn't arrested you know. Also in the cities, where this kind of survey is likely to take place (I can't see it happening in a farming village), it's not like the people are uninformed as to the views of the world.

      Also I'd say it's a large enough sample of the market for mobile phone apps in China, if not the entire population.

    2. Kubla Cant
      Headmaster

      Sample size

      I believe that statisticians (of whom I am not one) will be able to tell you that the degree to which a sample is representative is related to its absolute size, not the proportion of the population. If the trait you're measuring is rare then the sample has to be larger to be reliable, but at 70% the downloading Chinese aren't rare.

      Whether the methods used returned a valid sample is another matter. We're not told (and I don't suppose any of us really care).

  4. gimbal
    Joke

    Hey, I've questioned downloaded apps, too

    I guess I'm just that cosmopolitan ><

    Cheers, Reg!

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