Phones to beat computers for surfing net in China

Experts at a conference held by the Beijing Communication Industry Association said the "mobile internet" will also drive internet's popularity in the country, the Global Times reported.

"China's mobile internet has entered a booming period. Mobile app downloads in the country last year accounted for 11 percent of the world's total, second only to the US," said Chen Jiachun, vice director of the telecom development department under the ministry of industry and information technology.

Chen Jiangong, a researcher at the China Internet Network Information Center, said more than half of the country's netizens use internet on their cell phones, with each spending more than 100 minutes online on average every day.

The number of internet users in China stood at 513 million at the end of 2011, with 356 million getting online through cell phones. The mobile internet figure was up 17.5 percent year-on-year.

Mobile phone services that include bill payment, shopping and ticket-booking, and the diversity of apps and cheaper access to internet on phones will also lure more netizens from computers to the mobile devices, experts said.