Baidu Aims To Expand by Embedding Search Engine in Chinese Cell Phones

As part of its strategy to expand in the Chinese mobile market, China’s leading Internet search company Baidu is proposing to embed its search box in cell phones and smartphones across China.

Toward that goal, Baidu is in talks with the country’s key handset makers. According to Baidu, it is not a new plan, but the company has not done anything similar on a large scale. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Baidu’s chief executive Robin Li said, “Baidu's goal is to have a search box very prominently on the phone's screen."

While it is targeting a variety of mobile platforms, Baidu is also eyeing the smartphones using Google’s (News - Alert) Android operating system. Google, Baidu’s search engine rival, is losing its market share after it exited China due to government censorship.

Besides talking to major handset players in China, industry analysts are speculating that that Baidu is also readying its own mobile operating system. But, the Chinese search engine maker has no comments on this development.

According to research firm Analysys (News - Alert) International, Baidu’s search engine market in China is 70 percent as opposed to 24.2 percent for Google. By embedding the search box in mobile phones, the Chinese search engine provider is slowly progressing to take control of the mobile search market, including smartphones.

Strategy Analytics’ (News - Alert) research shows that Google’s global revenue dropped by 1.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. In contrast, the Chinese search market leader Baidu has capitalized on Google’s retreat from China and the overall rapid growth of the Chinese search market, as per Strategy Analytics’ research data. As a result, Baidu’s revenue surged 76 percent over the second quarter last year and by 49 percent over first quarter 2010.

Subsequently, its global search revenue market share grew by 1.4 percentage points in the second quarter 2010. In terms of revenue, the market research firm is ranking Baidu as the forth largest search company in the world.