Houston Community News >> Google Chinese Market
9/15/2006 China-- Baidu.com has been in the news quite a bit recently as it continues to be the more popular search engine in its home country of China. This is the world's most-populous country, and Google is not the top search engine there. Has the world gone mad! Hardly -- Baidu.com is a home-grown brand in China, and it is becoming fiercely protective of itself these days in the light of so much foreign investment.
But, make no mistake, Google is hardly running for cover in China. The Internet search giant has a large office there and works constantly to increase its market share in that country. But, as of now, it's not winning the battle of the next big Internet user base. Google has lost 12% of the market share for China's Internet search market in 2006 according to China Intelliconsulting. What can Google do? I'm not sure if providing the most relevant and best product will do it in China, although that generally is the recipe for success in any market and any industry.
Top Internet search engine Google Inc. (GOOG) has seen its share of the Chinese search engine market dip 12% this year, while Baidu.com (BIDU), the leading search provider in China, continues to pad its lead.
Google's failure to grab a toehold in China since launching a locally-operated search engine in the country is noteworthy because China is considered the largest, and in some circles, most potent Internet community in the world.
(Contributed by Dow Jones Newswire)