MOBILE APPS SAVING MONEY, MAKING MONEY

Changing habits brought by smart devices help create $35b market

It's fair to say that many Chinese have become heavily reliant on their smartphones - or, to be more exact, the wealth of apps they use daily to shop, travel and chat with friends.

The country had a staggering 772 million internet users at the last count, 97 percent of whom access the web using a smartphone, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, or CNNIC.