HONG KONG: Baidu, China's biggest Internet company by market value, has developed a Web browser for personal computers, as the owner of the country's leading search engine expands its range of services.
The desktop browser is being tested internally among employees at present, Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo said in an interview yesterday. The new service "dovetails" with the company's "box-computing" technology, he said, without disclosing when it will be offered to the public.
The browser may put Baidu in direct competition with Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Google's Chrome.
Chief Executive Officer Robin Li is expanding Baidu in social-networking and online videos after the Beijing-based company took search-engine market share from Google in China, the world's biggest online market.
Motorola Mobility Holdings has held talks with Baidu about an operating system for mobile phones, according to Sanjay Jha, chief executive officer at the Libertyville, Illinois-based company. Kuo yesterday declined to comment on Baidu's plans for an operating system, saying the company doesn't discuss the development of products that haven't been introduced.
Baidu's vision is to "obviate" operating systems so that the customer interface on any device, be it a personal computer, notebook, tablet or smartphone, is a simple, yet powerful search box using conversational language, Kuo said. Baidu has said it intends to develop its box computing service to link the provision of content including books, video games and other entertainment, to online searches.
Baidu, whose market value overtook that of Tencent Holdings this week, plans to develop more social-networking services, Li said last month. Baidu's stock has surged 38 per cent in US trading this year, after more than doubling in 2010.
Baidu accounted for 75.5 per cent of China's search-engine market by revenue in the fourth quarter, rising from 73 per cent in the previous three months, according to research company Analysys International. Google's share dropped to 19.6 per cent from 21.6 per cent, the research firm said. Baidu on March 23 declined to confirm or deny a report in the Financial Times that the company plans to create an operating system for mobile devices.
Baidu plans to develop a "light operating system" for mobile devices, the Financial Times reported, citing an interview with Li. Kuo, a spokesman at the Beijing-based company, declined to confirm or deny that report. What Li discussed was the company's vision for "box computing," which was first revealed almost two years ago, Kuo said.
"Robin did not specifically say that Baidu is developing an operating system for mobiles," said Kuo, who refused to comment on whether the company is actually doing so. "Box computing has been the long-term vision of the company since July 2009," he added.
Muscat Press and Publishing House SAOC 2011
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