I came across this interesting article "Where Google Loses" at Foreign Policy. Here's some highlights that caught my attention
The Beijing-based search engine (Baidu - whose name means "hundreds of times," after a line in an 800-year-old poem) maintains an astounding 70 percent market share. California-based Google trails far behind, with only about 25 percent.
Baidu's net income is increasing wildly: 40 percent year-on-year, compared with 18 percent for Google. Every indication points to fast growth and lucrative profit.
a search for "Tiananmen June 4" written in Chinese characters yields 915,000 results on Google China. It gets just 11,300 results, 99 percent less, on Baidu. Type in "harmonious society," a government catchphrase, and Google gets just over 10 million results. Baidu gets 18 million.
Baidu and goverment on the same page:
Chinese authorities temporarily blocked Google because it allowed through some pornographic search results. But many of these same results were also available on Baidu
Baidu connects users with sites through which they can illegally obtain music. It also allows users to search directly for and illicitly download MP3s.
In 2005, several U.S.-based music companies sued Baidu, but inexplicably lost. In 2006, they sued Yahoo China, an American-based company, and won. (The verdicts were released on the same day.)
The government allowed Baidu to operate its illegal music search just long enough to attract a huge user base
Looks like Baidu is too powerful to fail
Baidu's entire business strategy is tailored to Chinese governmental, legal, business, and social culture -- and that is what has set it apart from Google.
The combination of a great market strategy and government favoritism means that Baidu will likely not fall from the top.
Google might dominate almost everywhere else, but in China, Baidu is set to stay king.
When the government is backing you up, you are too powerful to fail. Continue reading here.
