Baidu Cooperates with Microsoft Bing

Aiming to make more of a global impact, China’s local search engine Baidu is going to power its English-language search results through a cooperation agreement with the Microsoft-developed search engine Bing. It is reported the two companies have already signed a deal and will launch the new search product later this year.

According to a report on the digital news web site paidcontent.org, the new Baidu-Bing relationship means English-language searches on Baidu will automatically trigger Bing results. Currently, English key word searches yield Chinese results on Baidu’s page.

Baidu’s Assistant President Zhang Dongchen is confident that the two IT giants’ cooperation, combining each other’s latest technology, will provide the best search experience for users.

Zhang also mentioned the English language search product will “help Baidu’s expansion in the international market.” Currently boasting a market share of some 75 percent in China, Baidu is said to be able to serve a rapidly growing market with 450 million internet users so far with its new function of providing search results in English. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Li Yanhong also hopes to see 70 percent of income generated from overseas markets by 2025.

The cooperation may also become a great opportunity for Microsoft’s search engine business in China. Currently sharing a very small stake in the Chinese search engine market, Microsoft’s team-up strategy with Baidu will likely to increase its local power and create more advantages that allow it to better compete with another U.S. search engine magnate – Google.

While most voices believe the cooperation will turn out to be a win-win deal, some experts wonder if Baidu really has the required user base to become an outstanding English-language search engine. Wallace Cheung, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Credit Suisse, told Reuters that he sees most English key words going through Google instead of Baidu.

Baidu and Microsoft were already working together in other fields such as mobile search engines and page result optimization, according to Reuters. On the mobile internet front, while Microsoft has announced Chinese language support for its newest release of Windows Phone 7, it is reported that Baidu is also developing its own mobile operating system. It remains to be seen whether the two companies will maintain their collaborative relationship or turn into competitors against each other in the lucrative Chinese mobile market.

This story was written for the China and India news site, 2point6billion.com, which is contributed to by Dezan Shira & Associates who assist MNC's with FDI China. Dezan Shira provides a range of services including tax, audit and accounting in China.

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