China's domestic software revenue hits $311B

Revenue for China's domestic software market jumped 25.8 percent year-on-year to 1.96 trillion yuan (US$311 billion) between January and October this year, as more customers made the shift from foreign to domestically-developed software.

In a Xinhua report Saturday, Gao Zhiyang, deputy director of China Software Testing Center (CSTC), said 75 percent of local business users are satisfied with the software they are using, with homegrown software and operating systems for servers meeting the industry's needs after years of development.

He added that some domestic developers are narrowing the gap or even overtaking foreign counterparts in terms of certain criteria and standards.

However, China's software sector is still dealing with issues such as unstable software performance and an inefficient quality management system, according to Gao. Some companies also lack innovation and rely heavily on overseas markets for core technologies, he said.

More efforts related to copyright protection and a better management system will help support healthier growth of the sector, he added.

It was earlier reported that China's software market generated 117 billion yuan (US$18 billion) in profits for the first six months of 2012, but its growth rate slowed down from 35.2 percent in 2011 to 10.6 percent this year due to intensifying competition and weak external demand.