China’s Internet Forecast for 2015

This past year， China’s internet economy evolved from quantitative to qualitative change. China’s internet is emerging from its shell to coalesce with the surrounding physical world. The new way for the internet to gain strength is to “disappear” from various industries and become new engines for creation and development. Thus， one distinctive symbol for the internet economy’s qualitative changes is that it has become“invisible”， hiding behind the economy to become a new driving force. Since it first became connected to the internet on April 20， 1994， China has witnessed internet development domestically for 20 years. It is fair to say the 20 years of innovation and creation is what has made the internet so successful. In September 2014， China’s e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group went public in New York. E-commerce is becoming a new force for China’s incremental reform. In 2014， many new types of enterprises， greatly contrasting those in traditional industries， emerged and developed quickly in China. The internet mindset has been greatly sought after. Many industries launched their own “innovation” in the internet field hoping to find new breakthroughs. Internet finance has also developed fast. In 2014， the Chinese government accelerated development of internet security， social credit， and broadband access.

Looking to 2015， I believe internet will bring Chinese people pleasant surprises in four ways： First， a “new engine” year is coming. In 2015， the internet will likely become a new engine for China’s further industrialization， urbanization， and agricultural modernization. The new year will feature overall development of the information economy. Development of the information economy will be marked by the following signs： Information industries will evolve into a service-based information economy. Driven by the internet， various trades and industries will join hands to push China’s economy from industrial to information. Second， mass innovation will drive the development of micro business.

Micro business refers to businesses created without organized production. They don’t require physical enterprises or workshops. By using service platforms provided by third parties， those operating micro businesses can provide one-to-one service and products to customers. At present， micro business in China includes microblogging， micro-creativity， micro application， and micro filmmaking.

At present， mass innovation is forming unique features in China. On one hand， mass innovation has a limitless ceiling， and rich returns can be realized without applying for patents or going to the public. On the other hand， mass innovation requires innovation based on personalized needs and the pursuance of subtle yet groundbreaking achievements.

In 2015， more youngsters will engage in micro business by employing crowdfunding， crowdsourcing and other mass means of development. They don’t work for anyone； they work for themselves. Through creative labor， they earn profits.

Third， the mobile internet will further develop. In 2015， mobile intelligent products will become even more prevalent. Many new technologies and products such as wearable devices and manmachine interfaces will become more mature and commercialized. With greater integration of internet and other industries， mobile devices will begin to offer some industrial services.

Fourth， promoting the development of big data will become a trend. China will invest greater resources in data center and data source construction， data analysis services， and data security. Compared to the U.S.， China lags far behind in terms of construction of databases and service platforms as well as visualization， and the country still has much room to develop big data technology and its widespread applications.

Cloud computing is also shifting to commercial cloud services. China’s data centers will begin upgrading from providing technical service to offering commercial service.

On the whole， China’s internet development in 2015 should put the focus on application platforms， especially commercial application platforms， which will be the next major player in the international IPO arena.