Feb 06 2008
as if you haven’t had enough of search engines
We all know about Google’s prior foray into China and how Baidu took Google to school in the Chinese search business. (In case it isn’t clear, Baidu has taken everyone to school in China) But it seems like the American search engine companies want to duke it out in China with Baidu anyways. Google is trying to link its search with music, as reported in China Digital Times:
Two years after Google Inc. began a big push in China, Baidu.com Inc. continues to dominate the country’s Internet search market, thanks in significant part to a controversial and legally risky offering: searches for free, unlicensed music downloads.
Now, Google is preparing a counterstrike, according to people close to the situation. The U.S. search giant is in the late planning stages of a joint venture with a Chinese online music company that would permit it to provide free — licensed — music downloads in China…
Baidu has proved a brash adversary for the much larger Google, leveraging its status as hometown champion in China to beat the U.S. Internet giant at its own game. From the start, Baidu has boasted that its knowledge of China and the Chinese language would give it a natural advantage over foreign rivals.
Interesting strategy: promote search using free music. (though I wonder if it not just easier to use “free” pirated music to compete in China, though I am not advocating such a strategy) I don’t think Google will be the last American search engine to try to knock Baidu from its perch as I have heard from folks in other companies salivating at the thought of gaining Chinese search business (aka, ad revenue).
UPDATE: I should’ve posted an old article regarding Baidu and mp3s, which can be found here.
