So, what do you do after you’ve experienced the number one spot in China’s search market? According to the country’s leading search engine, Baidu, the answer is to head over to Japan.
Baidu CEO Robin Li said that the search company’s “proven strength in non-English language search, the high Internet penetration in Japan, as well as similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages make this market an ideal next step for Baidu.”
No specific target date was revealed, but Baidu has indicated that it plans on entering the Japanese search market in 2007. Baidu also indicated that it had conducted a six-month research project concerning search technology in the Japanese language.
Though Baidu possesses about 60% of China’s search market and is the fourth most visited Web site in the world according to Alexa, Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto does not see much sense in its plans to enter a competitive Japanese search market. He points to the fact that China’s Internet realm is still in its infancy, and that Baidu could easily lose its leadership position at home.
Japan’s search market is already occupied by heavy giants Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, the former two holding 90% of the search market. In addition, the nation’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been mulling over a launch of its own national search engine.
Investors seemed undaunted by these pessimistic notions as shares of Baidu rose 3.3% on Monday, the day it announced its Japanese plans.
Sources:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.
aspx?type=hotStocksNews&storyID=2006-12-04T201537Z_
01_WEN0643_RTRUKOC_0_US-BAIDU-JAPAN-ENTRANCE-share.xml
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6140462.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=
aTv.FNpCsbP8&refer=home
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