Chinese search leader Baidu has signed a deal with Chinese mobile operator China Unicom to have its search engine pre-installed on all Unicom's 3G handsets. The deal will extend to Baidu's image search and MP3 search offerings. The move is an attempt to consolidate Baidu's leading position in China, at the expense of Google.
China Unicom is the second-biggest mobile carrier in China and recently signed a three-year contract with Apple to introduce the iPhone to the country. It is thought that the Chinese iPhones will also carry the Baidu search engine.
Speculation is mounting as to whether Google was considered as a potential partner for China Unicom. The US search engine already has a deal with China Mobile, the country's biggest mobile carrier, which has enabled Google to match Baidu's mobile search share. However, recent overall search statistics show that Baidu is the first choice of search engine among 77.2% of Chinese users while Google was the preference of a mere 12.7%.
StrategyEye's related categories: Search - Web, Mobile Operators - General, Search - Mobile
StrategyEye's related companies: China Unicom, Google, Baidu
