research conducted by Analysys International indicates that 81.5 million Chinese are users of instant messaging (IM) or chat software, and are growing rapidly since 2000. China�s current IM user base has increased 38 per cent in third quarter 2005 since the previous year.

The study shows that the IM by Tencent QQ currently dominates the market with a share of 79.6 per cent. MSN Messenger ranks second with a share of 10.1 per cent, and is favoured by the working people for its user-friendly interface, simple functionality and integration with Windows. ... more