On Dec.19, 2006, CNNIC released key statistics of “The Survey Report on Chinese Instant Message Market 2006”.
The samples of the report were collected from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu and Xi’an through telephone survey. The report mainly analyzed the current situation, social effects and market problems of the six cities. The report shows that 40% of Instant Message (IM) users changed their main communication methods, 60% of the users had been harassed by virus, 80% of the users had experienced junk information.
IM Changed Users’ Communication Methods
The report shows that those active IM users (defined as people who used the IM tools in recent one month) had reached 59.8%. Among the active IM users in the six cities, 73.4% of the users regard IM as necessary. IM tools impacted other communication methods - over 40% of the users regard IM as their “the most frequently used communication approach”. For the convenience and low cost of the IM tools, over 60% of the users reduced the use of Email, over 70% of MSN users and nearly 2/3 of OICQ users reduced their use of telephone.
Nearly 60% of IM Users’ Computers were infected by Virus, Junk Information Matches Junk Mails
Among active IM users in the six cities, over 80% had received IM junk info from strangers. The proportion of MSN users is lower than that of OICQ users, while still close to 80%. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of IM users got their computers infected by virus through IM tools.
OICQ Dominates IM Market, MSN Stands High in White Collar’s Favor in Beijing and Shanghai
In the six cities, OICQ dominates 84.4% of the IM market, MSN ranks the second, accounting for 13.9% of the market.
MSN takes lead in certain user groups in Beijing and Shanghai. The report shows that among active users who use IM tools in office, MSN possesses 49.5% and 67.5% of the market in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, which are larger than the share of OICQ. MSN’s advantages are more obvious among high-end users, the market share in the two cities are 54.3% and 66.0%. However, the same user groups in other four cities still prefer OICQ. (Note: the definition of high-end user of the survey – aged 25+, monthly income 3000+, bachelor degree and above)
Most of Users Do Not Know Message Could be Transmitted between Different IM Tools
The report shows that less than 1/5 users know about the intercommunications between IM tools (Yahoo and MSN), most of users have no idea about the function.
Analysis shows that much more MSN users know about the function than QQ users (nearly 2 times), although less than 30% of total MSN users. The cognitive rate in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong is 18.7%, and the rate in Chengdu, Wuhan and Xi’an is 15.9%. Although the real intercommunication between different IM tools is in general trends, yet they still have long way to go.
CNNIC's “The Survey Report on Chinese Instant Message Market 2006” touched the current situation of domestic IM market (both computer-ends mobile-ends), users’ characteristics and users’ behavior, providing Internet users and enterprises with valuable references for making decisions.
Click the link to get more info: http://www.cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2006/12/14/4348.htm
|
