Software Market in China 2012

The software market of China is poised to demonstrate a robust growth of 20% CAGR during 2010-15.

The report begins with the introduction of software industry covering major types of software followed by the historical evolution of China’s software industry. The market overview section provides global software market size with growth potential for the period of 2010 and 2015. Domestic software market overview also delves into the market size and growth potential for the same period along with a split of sub-sectors and major software hubs in China. The report finds that four cities located in eastern China contribute more than half of total software output in China.

The international trade section provides detailed information about the software exports and its growth during 2010-11. It also provides export figures of software outsourcing for the same period. Further the share of export to output over the decade ending 2009 is also illustrated.

Key factors driving the growth of software market in China include modernization of core sectors, large internet & mobile phone user base, increased adoption of e-commerce, rise in income, increasing emphasis on computerization and rising population of computer scientists graduating annually in China.

The report finds that China being the world’s 2nd largest economy after US acts as a key growth driver for its software market. China has the largest consumer base of internet and mobile phone users in the world which provides high impetus for the growth in China’s software market. With increased adoption of e-commerce making financial transactions online, there is a rising need for payment gateways and other related software platforms driving the software industry in China. Rise in disposable income is an important driver for promoting the use of expensive genuine software. Largely untapped rural markets with low-cost services and appropriate business models act as a compelling factor in the growth of Chinese software market. Wave of computerization and automation both in public and private sectors is driving the growth of software market in China.Over 10,000 computer scientists graduate every year, depicting strong growth potential for software market.

The players operating in the market also face challenges that impede the market growth and its development. Major challenges identified in the report include language barrier, software piracy, lack of intellectual property rights protection, high costs of entry, government emphasis on the hardware sector, and software bug.

The report finds that language barrier is one of the biggest challenges faced by the software market in China. The second most important challenge to address is the loss due to software piracy which is second highest in China after the US. Lack of Intellectual property rights protection in China leads to widespread IPR violation. High barriers to entry for both software exports and investment are also major issues restricting the market’s growth potential. China is the second largest market in terms of computer hardware sales whereas it is only the eighth largest for software sales in the world.

The report also provides the role of government in the country’s software sector one of them being measures adopted to cut down software piracy. It further mentions the imposition of tariffs and standards for the benefit of China’s software sector. 12th five year plan (2011-2015) for the Chinese software market alongwith some major national policies impacting the sector are also covered in the report.

Emerging trends in the software market include declining software piracy, rapid development, and increasing mergers & acquisitions.

Opportunities section in the report elaborates on the opportunities in applications development, enterprise software and IT consultancy and outsourcing sector.

The competition section outlays the competitive landscape of the software industry in China briefing about the domestic and foreign players existing in the market. This section provides a three dimensional analysis of key players’ revenues, profits and market capitalization. The report also features brief profiles of major domestic and foreign players in the market and a snapshot of their corporation, financial performance, business highlights and their product portfolio, providing an insight into the existing competitive scenario.

Some of the key statistics or factors impacting the software market in China covered in the report includes global software market size, domestic software market size, domestic software sales growth, sub-sector wise and region wise revenue composition, share of major cities in software industry output, export growth of the software and software outsourcing services, share of export to output, China’s GDP growth, internet population, mobile phone population, top five countries in terms of both internet and mobile phone usage, smart phones market size, market size and growth in e-commerce, urban per capita disposable income,  10 most popular languages used on the internet, commercial value of unlicensed software in China, declining software piracy rate, declining losses due to piracy, rapid growth of operating revenues in data processing & operating services, IT consulting & management services, software product, and embedded system software sectors, revenues of top 100 software co., etc.

The next section enlists the mergers & acquisitions of the major players in software market in China during 2010-12.

Key takeaways section summarizes the entire market in terms of opportunities, trends and challenges persisting in the software market in China.