Reported by a senior official of mobile security firm Beijing NetQin Tech Co Ltd , China’s mobile security market may surpass personal computers by 2012 as demand for mobile safety increases with 3G services gaining more ground.

“Mobile users now largely surpass PC users and this makes the catching up possible,” said Jason Lu, vice-president of the company, in an exclusive interview with China Daily yesterday. Lu added, however, that this could happen only after more consumers switch to smartphones and the need for mobile safety goes up.

“Smartphones, with a penetration rate of less than 20 percent, are not that popular now in China, and mobile functions, like e-payment and mobile games, are not yet widely used. It will take some more time for people to understand the importance of mobile safety.”

Lu said NetQin would look to list its shares at an opportune time as and when the market has reached a considerable mass. Main services of NetQin include anti-virus, anti-harassment and privacy protection. NetQin is likely to register a growth of 40 to 50 percent in revenue this year, said Lu without disclosing any figures.

According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, China’s mobile security market may touch 1.36 billion yuan by 2014 and have about 64.8 million active users from 9.1 million at present. NetQin had a 68 percent share of the market in the third quarter of this year, followed by Kaspersky Labs and RISING.

The company has also cooperated with telecom carriers, such as China Mobile, to offer safety services and share revenues；major handset makers to pre-install its software.

The company has over 30 million customers and nearly 20 percent are from 200 overseas. In order to extend its market, the company is also planning to open offices in Europe and the Middle East next year.