According to the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center),
China is the largest wired nation with more than 253 million people connected to the web.

For a comparison, the Nielsen Ratings report about 223 million Americans using the internet services.
Ever since analysts began examining the number of internet users, United States was leading all data-charts in that area. This year, it’s the first time china surpassing the U.S., and the numbers should get even higher.

Though the impressive figures, China’s economy is still far behind its American opponent; even South-Korea is more successful than China, financially speaking.

American businessmen and tourists, who intend to travel china and visit the Olympics Games, are at a high risk of getting hacked by local young hackers. Even the private cell phone is at risk: The hackers try to get information from the Americans who travel china, by entering their private mobile telephone.
U.S. officials have been sending strict warnings, for the sake of the Americans who plan to visit China in the nearest future.

Though the fear of hacked computers and mobiles is in fact exists, the American authorities try to quiet this information, and not to accuse the Chinese government or its army of hacking into its network. Without any valid proof, this accusation might cause an international crisis that will harm both countries.
Online spying is becoming more sophisticated and common. The young Chinese hackers are trying to copy information from the computers located at the hotels and airports. After that, they are trying to insert wireless spying software- to the Blackberry device of the selected “victim”. The Bluetooth technology is also being used in the hacking industry; the online burglars using it to still information from electrical devices.

While health warnings are published in the media, there isn’t any organization that warns the tourists on their way to china, from being hacked while visiting the Great Wall of China or watching the Olympic Games in Beijing. The online threats are lurking out there, and there is nothing to do about it.

Maybe many people know 360quan.com but seldom do they know its investor behind, Koolanoo Group. Last month, iResearch interviewed Mr. O.D.Kobo, the board chairman and CEO of Koolanoo Group, and unveiled the mysteries of Koolanoo Group.

Mr. Kobo was born in Hong Kong and received the western education. He is humorous and when talking about Internet we can feel his passion on it. It is the clothes and products labeled “Made in China” he always saw as a little boy that inspired his great interest in China. When he noticed the great potential in the future development of Internet, he made an occupation in the early Internet domain name market. Only a few years after, he sold the domain names he bought and made his first bucket of gold before his 20s. His perspective investments shows O. D.’s unique vision on Internet.

“Investing Chinese Internet market is my lifelong career”

O.D. has been having a great interest in China since a young age, and investing in Internet in China is always one of his dreams and wishes. It was reported, Koolanoo Group was planning to invest in Chinese Internet market, and 8 million dollars was invested for establishing the 360quan.com, a SNS website. O.D. said, the Chinese Internet market was in the Blue Sea stage which is the best time for investing, but it must be a long-term go. So we couldn’t be too anxious for the profit. We focus on the long-range market share but not some returns in short time, because Chinese market has great potential.

O.D. emphasized again and again that Koolanoo Group is not a VC but an Internet investment company. Investing in Internet is his interest and his long-term career in China.
Actually, O. D. has companies in London, Hong Kong and Israel and he invests in many traditional industries not only Internet. He told us he has an apartment just on the opposite side of the street where the company lies. He lives near the company and he likes working here.

“People with high IQ use IQ Browser”

360quan.com is one of the products that the Koolanoo Group has invested, and a series of new products will be coming soon. The IQ browser is one of them. The koolanoo Group invests 25 million dollars for IQ browser which, O. D. told us, has a great difference to IE—- its super privacy protection function. For example, user can login with his own account. Once you set up your own account, you can bring the “Favorites” everywhere and others can not see your browse history, search records and other private information. This is more convenient for the users who can not use their own PCs all the time.

O. D. mentioned, most of the Chinese netizens surf the Internet in net bars, which show the interest and desire of Chinese netizens to the Internet, and he wants to provide more services and experiences to the Chinese netizen. In the near future, Koolanoo Group will release mail box and video products.

“The market value created by Alibaba is a miracle.”

O. D. said he liked the Internet companies in China very much and his favorite was Alibaba. The people he admires the most is Ma Yun. It made him so impressed when the market value of Alibaba rose over 20 billion dollars and the company became the biggest in China and the second largest of the world. He thinks that is the feature of Chinese Internet and it is also a sign for a rapid development of Chinese Internet industry.

The target users of 360quan.com are located on the generation who were born after year of 1985. This group of people is activity and willing to accept the new things. O. D. is very confident to the Chinese SNS market, so he plans to invest another 25 million dollars in 360quan.com.

O. D. said what he is dong is to create a network product line which includes network platform and soft wares. We are all familiar with the network friend-making platform and then the soft wares are coming soon, like IQ browser, mail box and etc. More and more products will be made to complete the product line.

In the end, O. D. told us that he liked Chinese market because it had many situations that never happened in the American market. And now it is a good time for investing in the Chinese market. He never expects to see the returns in a short period and he cares more about the position in the market and brings more products and experiences to Chinese netizens. We have reason to believe that O. D. will bring a brand new strength into the development of the Internet industry of China.

The number of E-commerce enabled websites in China is expected to reach around 370,000 by 2010 according to a study by AMI, Access Markets International Partners Incorporated, a market intelligence company specializing in small and medium businesses, IT, the Internet and telecommunications. The study also revealed that the rise in the number of E-commerce websites in China is largely due to the growing number of SMB’s with E-commerce facilities, which rose by 45% in 2008. The overall number of
E-commerce sites in China rose from around 135,000 in 2007, to around 200,000 in 2008. According to the AMI study, some of the E-commerce initiatives that have been successful in recent years in China include online retail, online travel and accommodation, and e-portals for supplies and materials. Web 2.0 sites offering social networking, blogs and exchange of information, are also providing a useful environment for E-commerce to develop in China.

A new poll revealed that 71.9% of Chinese believe that the internet will become a tool for greater democracy in China. Beijing Youth Daily conducted the poll earlier this year, immediately after the revolutionary online chat that President Hu Jintao held with Chinese internet users this June. The chat itself was seen as a sign that Chinese government officials are interested in consulting with their citizens and in learning their views; 56.8% of participants in the poll felt the chat demonstrated the government was moving towards being sensitive to public opinion.

Of the 2,874 people polled, 47% said that they often express their opinions online and a further 43.6% occasionally express their opinions online. When asked on which platforms those polled express themselves, three websites ranked as the most popular: qq.com or QQ messenger, with 60.5%, Sina.com, with 44.5% and Netease.com, with 44.1%. Other websites include rivals, Sohu.com, with 27.5%, and local campus networks, with 25.1% of those polled.

However, despite the sudden openness the government is demonstrating, the internet is still censored rigorously in China, and various bodies have reported arrests of bloggers following their online criticism of the authorities. In fact, only 26% of users polled said they thought that people should use their true identities online. Nevertheless, 66.9% said they thought that reasonable and polite expression should be encouraged.

There is growing speculation that China internet investment firm, Koolanoo Group, which has already invested $27 million in the Chinese internet and new media industry, is set to make a further round of investments. According to unconfirmed reports circulated recently on the web, internet tycoon O.D. Kobo, CEO of Koolanoo Group, raised $80 million at the beginning of July from a single source in the Middle East.

Koolanoo Group’s current ventures in China include 360Quan.com, which is currently China’s leading social networking site, 360Quick, a popular Chinese internet browser and, recently launched, 360Mail and 360TV. Koolanoo has gone from strength to strength in China since its entry there just two years ago and that success is expected to grow as the internet market in China continues to boom. China currently boasts a massive 221 million internet users - surpassing the United States; moreover, this only represents a mere 16% of the total Chinese population. With the rapid emergence of new middle classes in China, more and more Chinese are forecast to gain access to the web and the number of Chinese internet users looks set to reach astronomical proportions in the future, providing an extremely attractive market for investors.

Koolanoo Group, which operates from offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Israel, already has an impressive portfolio valued at $500 million. If the recent rumors that O.D. Kobo has raised $80 million from a Middle Eastern source prove to be true, speculation that Kobo plans further investment in the Chinese internet industry may well be confirmed.

The last two or three months have seen one landmark online event after another in China, heralding, perhaps, yet a further phase of change in the workings of Chinese politics. The internet has proved to be an extremely effective tool in China, with bloggers wielding extraordinary power over public opinion, perhaps even more so than their western counterparts do. And this, despite strict government controls, censorship - and over 30,000 “web police” constantly patrolling their web-beats.

First, there was the case of an ‘internet lynching’ of “Running Fan”, the teacher, ridiculed on the web for running out of his classroom ahead of his pupils during the Sichuan earthquake in May. The incident, and its subsequent coverage on the internet, inspired a public debate on social morals and caused the government to issue a new ethical code of conduct for teachers.

Then there was the surprising online chat with President Hu, in June, following shortly after the revelation that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, apparently, has a very popular webpage on Facebook. And now, the rather spectacular sacking of four Communist Party, local police officials in Guizhou Province, for their part in the alleged mishandling, and possible cover up, in the terrible rape and murder of high school student, Li Shufen. There was even talk on the web that Shufen had been raped and drowned by relatives of local officials; riots ensued. Local citizens and online public were roused to protest by persistent bloggers who would not allow the case to be filed away. One blogger, reputedly the ‘ring leader’, Zhou Shuguang – aka, “blogger Zola”, posted emotive pictures and pleas from the murdered student’s family on the internet in a very western style media campaign.

Chinese bloggers are now claiming victory and the undeniable awareness that China’s leadership has displayed in recognizing the power of public opinion – and in responding to it, goes a long way to proving them right; only a short time ago, this would all have been unthinkable in the one-party state.

China’s Myspace - Koolanoo Group’s CEO O.D. Kobo

Asian internet investment firm Koolanoo Group announced that the company has invested USD 3 million in Social Networking Site 360Quan.com. When asked about the business model of the site, Koolanoo Group Global President and CEO O. D. Kobo said the company’s current focus is not commercial profitability, but rather the development of what could be the dating site for China’s young people.Koolanoo Group announced that the company will continue to invest in China’s internet industry and that the latest investment moves will be announced within two weeks. Koolanoo Group headquarters have recently been moved to Beijing, reflecting the company’s interest in the Chinese market.

Free Wi-Fi, covering an area of 100 square kilometers, will be available to Internet users in Beijing during the Olympic Games this summer. Service provider, China Communications, expects to expand the range of the project to cover the whole city and some of the peripheral areas by the year 2010. The service will allow Wi-Fi enabled laptop and mobile phone users to access the internet from any point within range.

According to report in Xinhua, China’s state news agency, the trial version of Beijing’s wireless broadband internet access was launched on 25 June. This version represents the first phase of the project, which will be expanded gradually until reaching its goal in 2010. During the Olympic Games, internet access will be free of charge, but following that, it is likely to be chargeable. Just how much internet users will have to pay for the service is not yet clear.

Users of games consoles, MP3 players and PDA’s will also be able to enjoy free internet connection within the Wi-Fi range. The range of hot spots – access points to the internet, will overlap in the city, creating a continuous wireless network. Similar projects exist in some other cities around the world. Using the momentum created by the games, the Chinese government is forging ahead in many service areas; on the touchy subject of online censorship, the organizing committee of the Beijing Olympics has promised that internet use will be unrestricted by government controls.