Though many Internet companies today are not making any profits, industry players are upbeat about the business opportunities the World Wide Web may bring, especially in the Asian market.
Asked by local media yesterday when Chinese-language portal site Netease.com (
"I don't know when the company is going to make money," Ding said at an Internet seminar held in Taipei yesterday. "But I am optimistic about the company's future."
Netease says it has more than 6 million page views per day, making it one of China's top portal sites.
H.T. Jan (詹宏志), owner of pchome.com.tw and part-owner of ttimes.com.tw, shared the same sentiment as Ding.
"People have asked me that question very often, but the Internet is an investment in the future," Jan said. "Those who participate in the Internet industry need to have faith in it."
Many believe that the business opportunities brought by the Internet are huge. According to Chen Jen-ran (陳正然), CEO of yam.com (蕃薯藤), Internet advertising sales grew by at least 300 percent last year.
When the Internet infrastructure is mature, there will be more business opportunities in areas such as business-to-business e-commerce, business-to-consumer e-commerce, consulting and marketing, Chen said.
The Internet boom is very similar to the story of 7-Eleven in Taiwan, Chen added.
The chain store kept setting up store after store nationwide, but did not turn a profit for years. It's the same situation with portals, Chen said, and the most important thing for a portal now is attracting traffic.
Netease's Ding agreed. "Our company's goal is to expand our Internet user base," he said.
China's 1.3 billion people, in particular, makes the Chinese-language Internet market one with strong business potential, industry players at the seminar said yesterday.
"The more than 1 billion Chinese population is what Chinese-language Internet companies exist for, even though only 1 percent of that population use the Internet now," said Wang Zhidong (王志東), president of Sina.com (新浪網), China's largest portal.
According to Netease, Internet users in China have grown dramatically. The number was 4 million in June and rose to 8.9 million in December. The figure today is roughly 10 million.
Statistics provided by Institute for Information Industry (
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