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Most people outside China may never have heard of QQ and for those folks, I think you are going to be amazed at the numbers you are about to read. QQ is an Instant Messager platform (IM) and what’s more, the total registered user accounts has climbed to 572.3 million! (Source readwriteweb.com)

Founded by Pony Ma in Shenzhen, China, in November 1998, Tencent is now recognized as the leading provider of Internet, mobile & telecommunications value-added services in China. QQ, Tencent’s instant messaging service platform, officially launched in Feb 1999.

Further, by leveraging this IM platform, Tencent annouced that they generated revenue of $US297 million in the quarter ended on Sept 30 2008.

So, how can a Westerner (Australian to be exact) become the latest QQ user- Fortunately, much easier now given the English language download that was released a few weeks ago on a new English language website  called “I’mQQ.com”, Here is the link:  Download Tencent QQ English Version

If you are an iPhone user, you can also try QQ for iPhone. But for Mac or Linux users, the QQ for Mac and QQ for Linux haven’t yet been released. So, to get around this mac limitation, I’m using Adium to run both QQ and MSN side-by-side.

I am still researching the numbers of non-Chinese registered users and have reached out to some people at Tencent to give me some idea but as yet I have no information. If anyone knows please post a comment…. My QQ id is: 860928261, chat to you online