As anticipated by many experts, Russia has recently over taken Germany as Europe’s largest internet market.  In her FT article journalist Courtney Weaver references the causes and effects of  broadband penetration on the giant’s economy.  See full article here-  http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/11/14/russian-internet-biggest-in-europe-will-earnings-follow/#ixzz1eX0oXUXp

The research firm comScore recently released figures which shows that in September’s count Russian internet users of 50.8m over took Germany’s count of 50.1m. Even though broadband penetration is expected to reach 60m users in Russia by the end of the year, this number is still only 1/3 of the nation’s population- leaving room for massive growth.

As stated in the NO FEAR book, Russia, like many other emerging markets, is a place for MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES. The growth potential of the market is huge, of course, but waht really sets it apart is the fact that is one of a few major markets not dominated by the US-based internet giants.

This allows for more localized innovation and potential. Right in line with the NO FEAR message, Russian analyst Konstantin Belov explains how domestic search engine Yandex has managed to maintain an edge over Google: ”Local expertise and understanding of the people is more important. The same is true for e-commerce’.’