Apple to add Chinese search engine Baidu to iOS - report
Plans to add support for Baidu, China's largest search engine, could be unveiled by Apple as soon as next week's Worldwide Developers Conference, according to a new report.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Apple plans to add Baidu as a search option for iPhones in China. The addition is part of an effort to broaden services and increase sales in the country, which has quickly become an important part of Apple's continued growth.
Baidu is responsible for about 80 percent of Internet searches in China. It is expected that Google will remain the default choice on the iPhone, but users in China will now have the option to make Baidu the default if they sho choose.
The addition of Bing would be similar to a change Apple made in 2010, when iOS 4 added Microsoft Bing as a new option for the default search engine on iPhone and iPad. Users can also select Yahoo for their search results, in addition to Google, the default option.
Rumors first cropped up in March of this year that Apple planned to change the default iPhone search engine from Google to Baidu. An executive with the Chinese search company said that Baidu had "reached a comprehensive cooperation agreement" with Apple.
Apple's upcoming OS X Mountain Lion Mac operating system will feature support for a variety of Chinese Internet services, including Safari search using Baidu. Other services that will be added are Mail, Contact and Calendar support for QQ, 163, and 126, Sheet SHaring support for video services Youku and Tudou; and Twitter-like microblogging support for Sina weibo.
China has become a region of focus for Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who said in January that the nation's demand for the Apple products, particularly the iPhone, has been "staggering."
Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Apple plans to add Baidu as a search option for iPhones in China. The addition is part of an effort to broaden services and increase sales in the country, which has quickly become an important part of Apple's continued growth.
Baidu is responsible for about 80 percent of Internet searches in China. It is expected that Google will remain the default choice on the iPhone, but users in China will now have the option to make Baidu the default if they sho choose.
The addition of Bing would be similar to a change Apple made in 2010, when iOS 4 added Microsoft Bing as a new option for the default search engine on iPhone and iPad. Users can also select Yahoo for their search results, in addition to Google, the default option.
Rumors first cropped up in March of this year that Apple planned to change the default iPhone search engine from Google to Baidu. An executive with the Chinese search company said that Baidu had "reached a comprehensive cooperation agreement" with Apple.
Apple's upcoming OS X Mountain Lion Mac operating system will feature support for a variety of Chinese Internet services, including Safari search using Baidu. Other services that will be added are Mail, Contact and Calendar support for QQ, 163, and 126, Sheet SHaring support for video services Youku and Tudou; and Twitter-like microblogging support for Sina weibo.
China has become a region of focus for Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who said in January that the nation's demand for the Apple products, particularly the iPhone, has been "staggering."
Comments
Take that, Google!
(I think that, in the longer run, this is a far bigger deal in the Apple-Google dust-up than the one over maps).
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Take that, Google!
if this is were in the US or Europe I might agree with you but it's my understanding that Google has almost no traffic in China anyway which is why Baidu was trying to get added as a built in service. So, if true, this really won't affect Google that much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
if this is were in the US or Europe I might agree with you but it's my understanding that Google has almost no traffic in China anyway which is why Baidu was trying to get added as a built in service. So, if true, this really won't affect Google that much.
Pretty much this.
The change is not likely a move away from Google, but rather to cater to the interests of the market. Making Google the default search engine in China is like making Bing the default search engine in the Western world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Take that, Google!
(I think that, in the longer run, this is a far bigger deal in the Apple-Google dust-up than the one over maps).
I'm always happy to see Google screwed over, but I don't get why adding a search engine is "news."
They pretty much add all the search engines that ask don't they?
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
if this is were in the US or Europe I might agree with you but it's my understanding that Google has almost no traffic in China anyway which is why Baidu was trying to get added as a built in service. So, if true, this really won't affect Google that much.
Search in China is Google's potentially biggest prize left. Search currently accounts for 97% of Google's revenue. Search is going mobile in a massive way.
Put the three facts together.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Search in China is Google's potentially biggest prize left. Search currently accounts for 97% of Google's revenue. Search is going mobile in a massive way.
Put the three facts together.
That has to hurt... watching a market go untapped that is potentially larger than all of the other markets you have captured to date.
Why is Baidu limited to China?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacVicta
Why is Baidu limited to China?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu#Censorship
"According to the China Digital Times, Baidu has a long history of being the most proactive and restrictive online censor in the search arena. Documents leaked in April 2009 from an employee in Baidu's internal monitoring and censorship department show a long list of blocked websites and censored topics on Baidu search.[44] In May 2011, pro-democracy activists sued Baidu for violating the U.S. constitution by the censorship it conducts in accord with the demand of the Chinese government"
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Search in China is Google's potentially biggest prize left. Search currently accounts for 97% of Google's revenue. Search is going mobile in a massive way.
Put the three facts together.
I understood the same as CharlieTuna. Google isn't the major presence there as they are in most of the world.They probably won't ever be for various reasons.
Google is resisting China's game of censoring web results, where Baidu is all too happy to comply. Google outed the Chinese when evidence was found they were hacking into Chinese dissidents e-mail accounts. Google was also one of the first to raise the alarm of government-sanctioned hackers breaking into US business's and government agencies via the web to steal state and trade secrets. Now they're even notifying user's when there's evidence of state-sponsored monitoring of user's G-mail accounts, reportedly no matter what county it originates from. Probably not a great business decision, but at least moral props to Google for not rolling all the way over for the Chinese.
To do serious business in China requires too many concessions in Google's view apparently. Sure there's money to be made but Google doesn't show a willingness to compromise their beliefs in an open web just to appease the Chinese. No biggie really as there's companies more than happy to fill Google's spot there as long as coffers are filled too.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57447906-83/google-warns-gmail-users-about-state-sponsored-email-hacking/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=
edit: sorry, way off topic
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacVicta
Why is Baidu limited to China?
because it is censored to the chinese gov'ts specifications.
- I wonder if the new search engine would come with riot protection gear.... anyone see the story about riots at an Apple Foxconn factory in China this week?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mitchelljd
because it is censored to the chinese gov'ts specifications.
- I wonder if the new search engine would come with riot protection gear.... anyone see the story about riots at an Apple Foxconn factory in China this week?
That still doesn't really explain why it's limited to China. I mean they could let the rest of the world use their search engine, right? Unless they are so embarrassed about their censorship they don't want the rest of the world to see their filtered results. And if this is the case, then that means they know what they are doing is wrong. Revealing, isn't it?
You are not asking the right question. Given it is censored, why on earth would anyone outside of china want to use Baidu as a search engine?
I would get excited if it included DuckDuckGo as a search option. Uss Google search without the tracking or advertising.