Trends & Forecasts

China Mobile and Xinhua jointly venture into Chinese mobile search market

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China Mobile is now moving into the mobile search engine market. The operator has announced a joint venture with Xinhua, China’s government-owned official state news agency, which will see the two parties create a search engine in an attempt to rival market leaders Baidu and Google...

China Mobile is now moving into the mobile search engine market. The operator has announced a joint venture with Xinhua, China’s government-owned official state news agency, which will see the two parties create a search engine in an attempt to rival market leaders Baidu and Google.

The agreement, confirmed by both firms, was noted by China Mobile to be a collaboration between Xinhua and the operator’s parent company, which is run by the state.

Last year saw the launch of 3G services across China, and the subsequent period has seen a significant increase in Internet-capable smartphone penetration levels; therefore, the Chinese mobile search market is undergoing a period of substantial growth, making the new joint venture particularly timely.

According to CLSA analyst Elinor Leung, the alliance between China Mobile and Xinhua will place a stronger emphasis on localised search services rather than web searches, taking the firms out of direct competition with Baidu but potentially limiting the impact that they will make on the market.

Analysys International figures place Baidu at the top of China’s mobile search market, with a market share of around a third. Easou holds second place, while Google takes third with 17% and 12% respectively.



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