By year-end 2000, active adult Internet users in Asia will number 38 million, and by 2003, this figure will grow to 95.83 million online users, or 25.7 percent of the world's total. A great disparity exists in Internet penetration rates throughout Asia. Approximately one half of Asian countries have penetration rates of less than 3 percent, while Singapore and Australia boast rates of 39.9 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively. Men represent 78 percent of all users in Asia, while women account for 22 percent. These figures differ greatly from those in the United States, where males represent the remaining 49 percent.
Online banking epitomizes the acceptance of the Internet in Korea.
Today, areas of China and India are not properly wired for traditional phone access. These countries boast two of the largest cellular phone and cable television markets in the world and that alone may allow them to become the next Asian Internet powerhouses. Asia will soon equal the US in online advertising spending as a percentage of total advertising. But US companies continue to pour money into Web initiatives, meaning the rest of the world is just playing catch up. Copyright 2001 INT Media Group, Incorporated All Rights Reserved.