The number of Internet users is expected to rise to 1.9 billion by 2012, gipp.ru reported.

Towards the end of this year, the number is expected to amount to 1.4 billion users, nearly a third of the world's population.

Internet use is increasingly responding to individual needs, whether at home or in the office. With the booming mobile technology market, the Web is gaining more and more popularity, according to John Gantz, an analyst for global market research firm IDC.

Although most Internet browsing happens from personal computers, it is predicted that Internet connections from mobile platforms will grow in the coming years. By 2012, 1.5 billion devices are expected to be in use for Web browsing, including computers, mobile phones and game consoles, gipp.ru reported.

About 40 percent of users prefer mobile access to the Internet, and the number is expected to increase to 546 million by the end of 2008, nearly double the amount it was two years ago, gipp.ru reported.

Web 1.0 features like information searches and online shopping will continue to be popular, while Web 2.0 features like social networking and blogging will become even more prevalent, IDC predicted. This aspect may be interesting to advertisers hoping to expand their online market, according to gipp.ru.

So far in 2008, nearly half of all Internet users shop online. However, by 2012 more than a billion users will shop online, spending US$1.3 trillion, according to the IDC forecast. The market for online products is thought to augment to US$12.4 trillion.

China has the most Internet users, and this amount may grow from this year's 275 million to 375 million by 2012.