Internet Reaches One Billion Users

• Posted: Monday, February 02, 2009
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Internet Users

The Internet surpassed 1 billion users last month, according to comScore.
The metrics firm was unable to provide a specific count as it estimates
based on surfers aged 15 and above accessing the Internet from computers.
The number is significantly at odds with the 1.46 billion users claimed by
Vint Cerf at PTC’09 last week, although the Internet icon included connected
mobile phones in his assessment.

CEO Magid Abraham called the figure a "significant landmark" and a
"monument to the increasingly unified global community in which we live
and reminds us that the world truly is becoming more flat. The second billion
will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even
faster than that."

Asia Pacific leads the online world with 41% of all surfers, with China
the largest single market with more than 180 million users. Europe follows
at 28% while North America ranks third at 18% thanks largely to its 163
million US surfers. The Middle East and Africa account for just 5% of the
world's online population. comScore said Google was the top global destination with 777.9 million visitors last month.

US RESISTANCE: New figures from the Pew Internet and American
Life Survey meanwhile reveal nearly a quarter of all American adults do
not use the Internet full stop. Some 8.3% claim to be disinterested in getting
online, while another 1.8% believe surfing is a waste of time. Just over
5% said access was too expensive or unavailable in their communities. A
similar percentage of dial-up subscribers gave the same reasons for not
migrating to broadband connections.[CommsDay]

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