Web surfing is booming in China.  The New York Times and CNN.com reported Friday that China recently surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest Internet population. 
In June, there were 253 million people online in China, the government reported Friday.  The new figures indicate that China’s Internet population grew by 56% in the last year. 
In comparison, the stories noted that the U.S. had approximately 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online. 

Investor’s Business Daily reported Wednesday that Amazon.com reported impressive second-quarter profits and sales, exceeding analysts’ expectations. 
The company’s sales for the most recent quarter grew 41% to $4.06 billion, and its operating income increased by 86% to $217 million.
The story noted that Web traffic to Amazon.com grew 10% from last year — up from 49.3 million visitors in Q2 2007 to an average audience of 54.4 million in Q2 2008, according to Nielsen Online. 
In May, Nielsen ranked Amazon.com second among U.S. online retailers, in terms of total purchases.

Offline businesses can no longer afford to forego investing in Websites and online advertising, Nielsen reported Tuesday.
A new survey conducted in May by Nielsen Online found that 80% of consumer electronics purchasers visited a store’s Website before buying a product in-store.  The survey also found that most consumers (58%) prefer using the Internet for product research — compared with only 25% that prefer to do their research in a brick and mortar store.
The results indicate that consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to conduct research before visiting local stores to make …

MarketWatch reported last week that Google increased its share of the U.S. online search market by 19% over June 2007, according to Nielsen Online.  The company now controls 59% of the market. 
Yahoo’s share declined by 12.4% to 16.6.% during the same time period, while Microsoft’s share grew by 12.5% to 14.1%, according to Nielsen Online.

In separate reviews published Thursday, CNBC’s Gloria McDonough-Taub and TIME’s Andrea Sachs praised “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000” (Doubleday), the new book from Nielsen Online’s Executive Vice President of Digital Strategic Services, Pete Blackshaw.   
Sachs concluded that the book, which offers guidance for marketing to Web-empowered consumers, “deserves a spot on the desk of every executive who worries about his company’s reputational risk.”
In her “Bullish on Books” blog, McDonough-Taub echoed that advice: ”‘Satisfied Customers’ is a great guide for business leaders and marketing officers who want to build …

Figures released earlier this week by Nielsen Mobile estimate that 19 million people (7% of wireless subscribers) have downloaded mobile video games.
Newcomer “Guitar Hero III” and classics like “Tetris” and “PAC-MAN” were among the top-selling games for Q1 2008, according to Nielsen.
The research also shows that since December 2007, total purchases of “Guitar Hero III” have increased each month, making it the most successful game in the fast-growing rhythm game genre.
Overall Top 5 Game Titles (by revenue share):
1.  Tetris
2.  Bejeweled
3.  Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
4.  Guitar Hero III
5.  …

In the next in a regular series of Ad Age columns, Nielsen Online Executive Vice President Pete Blackshaw examines how Canadian fast-food chain Tim Horton’s benefits from the unusually intense loyalty of its customers.
While Starbucks has struggled with store closings and customer-service failings, this coffee competitor from the North has quietly expanded, banking on its mission, its people, and its community ethos.
“Even though it’s a chain, the brand…comes across as uniquely authentic,” Blackshaw writes.  “There’s an important story behind this Tim Hortons brand. Great food, good value, strong community support …

Google and Yahoo! were the number one- and number two-ranked Web brands in June, according to Nielsen Online.

Rank
Brand
Unique Audience

1
Google
120,496,000

2
Yahoo!
113,187,000

3
MSN/Windows Live
99,747,000

4
Microsoft
93,786,000

5
AOL Media Network
91,167,000

6
YouTube
71,398,000

7
Fox Interactive Media
70,039,000

8
Wikipedia
52,747,000

9
eBay
52,509,000

10
Apple
49,911,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (June 1 – 30, 2008)

View the full press release.

With Apple’s new iPhone 3G scheduled to go on sale worldwide this Friday, Nielsen Mobile released penetration, demographics, and usage data for the current iPhone:
How many iPhones are already out there?
-Nielsen Mobile estimates that there are 2.3 million U.S. mobile subscribers using an iPhone
-The iPhone accounts for 1% of all embedded mobile phone users in the U.S.

Who is using the iPhone already?

-Two-thirds (67%) of U.S. iPhone users are male (compared to 48% of all mobile subscribers)
-55% of iPhone owners are under the age of 35 (compared to 34% of all …

Social networking sites like Facebook.com, MySpace.com, Xanga, Bebo and online video sites like YouTube head InternetSafety.com’s list of ”Top 10 Online Time Wasters.”
But where does most of this time wasting occur?  At work, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported Tuesday, citing new research by Nielsen Online.
According to Nielsen, the greatest number of Internet videos are watched on weekdays between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. — when most people are at work.