Baidu says Hi!
Baidu recently announced its intention to launch an Instant Messaging service called Baidu Hi! This will join a series of popular tools released by Baidu, listed below:
- Baidu 图片or Image Search
- Baidu 新闻 or Baidu News
- Baidu 百科, dubbed a “Chinese Wikipedia”
- Baidu 知道 or Baidu Knows a Q&A search where users can post and answer questions posted by other users
- Baidu 空间 or Baidu Spaces, a concept similar to MSN Live! Spaces with a rising number of users.
- Baidu 贴吧 or Baidu Post Bar, an online forum where a community of users can exchange, post and share websites.
And of course, Baidu’s infamous mp3 search and their ongoing battle with the music industry over copyright issues. The most recent claim was by the Motion Pictures Association members with damages amounting to RMB 7 million.
Whether Baidu Hi! will take off as an instant messaging service or whether it will flop is yet to be seen. They certainly face very tough competition from Tencent’s QQ Instant Messaging service who occupy up to 70% of the IM market share in China.
In 2005, QQ’s registered users exceeded 430 million, among which active users were over 170 million and the record of maximum online QQ users was 16 million. (China Economic Net)
Contact us at info@metafocus.co.uk if you would like to learn more about Baidu, Chinese search marketing services or how to get an online marketing presence in China.
Other links:
The official Baidu press release - Baidu Hi!
