With a tremendous population, several highly developed countries, and a rapidly escalating Internet penetration, Asia is among the most promising regions for e-commerce development. In March 2000, about 69 million people had access to the Internet in Asia, compared with 83 million in Europe. Still, internal disparities and a series of logistical difficulties hampered some of the most optimistic expectations for online commerce in the region. James Wang, an Internet analyst in Taiwan, told Far Eastern Economic Review in late 2000 that, when it comes to e-commerce, "Asia is where the U.S. was two to three years ago. Once consumers feel more comfortable buying on-line, it'll start to pick up." The challenge for both Asian and non-Asian entrepreneurs was to generate that level of comfort and provide the infrastructure to take advantage of it.
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