The total software sale in China was 11.2 billion yuan (about US$1.37 billion) in the third quarter this year, up 20.2 percent over the same period last year.

Sales of professional application software reached 5.28 billion yuan (about US$ 0.64 billion) in the period, due to the steady purchase growth of the telecommunication and banking industries. The development of e-government, online education and the informationization of other traditional industries were also the major forces behind the growth.

Platform software such as operating systems and databases sold 3.01 billion yuan (aboutUS$0.367 billion), with an increase of 13.5 percent over the same period last year, according to the China Center of Information Industry Development, a Beijing based consulting company.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2003)