Chinese search engine Baidu has launched a new platform based on Google’s Android mobile operating system, to better compete in increasingly competitive mobile web market.
The new platform, named Baidu Yi, will allow developers to build applications and sell them through its website similar to Google’s Marketplace and Apple’s iTunes App Store.
The new software will be preinstalled on mobile phones and let users to directly access Baidu services.
Chinese search giant also unveiled its new Internet homepage that will let users to customize the landing site and display certain apps, links to websites they like, and new content posted on third-party social-networking websites.
Baidu CEO Robin Li said his company relies on search traffic volume to make money. The new homepage may have a negative impact on search traffic volume, but it is OK because it is good for users, and will in the long-term benefit Baidu.
Baidu, which currently attracts about 80% of the country’s Internet searches, has been operating with a homepage identical to that of Google since long time.
Google has been losing its market share in China since January 2010 when it refused to comply with Chinese regulations to self-censor Web content.
The US search engine giant closed its Google.cn service two months later, and redirected Chinese users to its site in Hong Kong.
