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Tag: Baidu

  • Baidu’s Ernie AI Reveal Stumbles Out of the Gate

    Baidu’s Ernie AI Reveal Stumbles Out of the Gate

    Baidu has revealed its Ernie AI chatbot, and the result has been similar to Google’s AI reveal in that it has stumbled out of the gate.

    Like Google, Baidu has been working overtime to catch up with Microsoft’s Bing AI. Baidu has finally “revealed” its Ernie chatbot, but the reveal did little to reassure investors that the company has a viable product.

    According to Ars Technica, company founder Robin Li only showed a pre-recorded demo of the product at the big reveal. Li tried to emphasize the company’s progress, despite the lackluster showing:

    “Sometimes when we use it we are pleasantly surprised, sometimes we may think there is an obvious error,” Li told the audience. “But one thing is for sure, it’s advancing very fast.

    “Its extremely strong ability to comprehend and express language will allow any company to get closer to their customers,” Li added. “It’s an opportunity for every company and it will even have an impact on every single person.”

    In the aftermath of the “demonstration,” Baidu’s stock tanked by 10% over fears that the company’s AI efforts may not be in as good a position as investors hoped. The sentiment is one shared by at least some Baidu employees.

    “We can only explore by ourselves. Training ChatGPT took OpenAI more than a year, and it took them another year to tune GPT-4,” said one Baidu employee. “It means we’re two years behind.”

  • Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Google is the undisputed leader in the search industry but is now facing new challenges that threaten its dominance.

    According to the latest statistics, Google currently holds roughly 93% of the global search market. Its closest rival, Bing, holds a mere 3%. Yahoo comes in a little over 1%, and other search engines don’t even break single-digit percentages.

    Despite its dominance, however, Google’s search business is facing an existential threat, the likes of which it has never faced before — artificial intelligence. Just as Google’s search algorithms upended the market and killed off Alta Vista-style category searching, AI is poised to eliminate traditional search that returns pages and pages of links. Instead, AI can provide answers in a conversational manner much more akin to how human beings communicate.

    Enter ChatGPT

    While conversational AI has been a dream of many for years, OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm, offering the most advanced interpretation of the technology to date. Almost overnight, ChatGPT was being used for everything from writing letters to authoring papers to helping students with their schoolwork.

    ChatGPT was so successful that it caused something of a panic within Google as industry experts predicted the tech’s ability to put an end to traditional search. The potential wasn’t lost on Google’s rivals either, with at least a couple of them announcing plans to roll out AI-powered search.

    The Frontrunner: Microsoft

    Microsoft has quickly emerged as the biggest threat to Google’s search. In addition to being its biggest rival — albeit a very distant one — Microsoft is one of the main investors in OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT. In fact, the Redmond-based company just signed a multi-year, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, extending a partnership that gave it exclusive access to some of the AI firm’s tech.

    Read More: Microsoft Officially Extends Its Partnership With OpenAI

    Microsoft has been rolling out the technology behind ChatGPT to its various platforms and services at a record pace, from email creation in Viva Sales to incorporating it into Azure OpenAI service.

    The biggest way Microsoft is incorporating OpenAI’s tech is in its Bing search engine. The company previewed it earlier this week, and the reviews were largely positive. Microsoft is also including a new and improved version of OpenAI’s tech, meaning it will be faster and more accurate in the answers it provides.

    Microsoft appears to be addressing the ethics of AI use as well. Business Insider’s Huileng Tan asked the new search engine to write a cover letter for a job. The AI responded that it could not do that as it would be “unethical” and “unfair to other applicants.” Bing did, however, give her general writing tips to help her and ended by wishing her “Good luck!”

    China’s Answer: Baidu

    Not one to be left out, Baidu is working on a ChatGPT-like AI of its own, named Ernie, which the company expects to launch publicly in March. Baidu is largely seen as the best chance for China to remain competitive in the search market, especially as the industry transitions to AI-driven results.

    See Also: Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Despite having a home-turf advantage, Baidu may be facing a major impediment from its own government. The company’s stock took a major hit after a state media warning about the hype surrounding AI chatbots.

    This wouldn’t be the first time China has sabotaged its own tech industry, with Beijing having a complicated history of alternately promoting and then punishing its tech industry. If that behavior continues, it could significantly undermine Baidu’s ability to compete.

    The Dark Horse: Yahoo

    Once the world’s dominant search engine, Yahoo has long since ceded the crown. These days the company outsources its search to Bing, focusing on news and other digital elements.

    In late January, however, Yahoo surprised the industry by teasing a return to the search market. The company posted a job opening for a Product Manager for Search and has been dropping cryptic tweets about its plans. The company has tweeted about how it “did search before it was cool” and that it would “BRB making it cool again.”

    After years of irrelevance in the search market, it’s hard to imagine what would suddenly make Yahoo decide to make a go of it again — unless the company planned to take advantage of a game-changing shift in technology to help it play catch-up.

    Yahoo’s biggest challenge, of course, will be execution. The company has a long history of making bad decisions when it comes to search, passing up multiple opportunities to buy Google when the company was worth a small fraction of its current value.

    The Current Leader: Google

    Of course, that begs the question: What about Google? Where is the company in its AI efforts, and can it respond to this new threat effectively?

    The truth is, no one really knows. The appearance of ChatGPT and Microsoft’s quick adoption of the underlying tech sent shockwaves through the search giant. CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red,” reorganized labor in an effort to come up with an answer, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin returned to assist.

    The company scrambled to unveil its Bard conversational AI, only to bungle the launch when Bard provided the wrong answer to one of the questions posed to it. That mistake, at least temporarily, wiped $100 billion from Alphabet’s value as investors dumped the stock in response.

    Read More: Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    From the outside looking in, it certainly appears that Google got caught off-guard and is scrambling to play catch-up and making mistakes it can’t afford to make.

    OpenAI’s founder, Sam Altman, seems to agree, likening Google to “a lethargic search monopoly.” He talks about what it would be like to be in Google’s shoes and “to think about a world where there was going to be a real challenge to the way that monetization of this works and new ad units, and maybe even a temporary downward pressure, I would not feel great about that.”

    What Happens Next

    Despite Google’s years-long dominance in the search market, Microsoft clearly has an advantage moving forward. The company is taking advantage of cutting-edge AI tech developed by the de facto leader in the space. What’s more, the company has invested billions to secure its ongoing, exclusive access to OpenAI’s innovations.

    In contrast, Google is clearly in a position it’s not used to being in: playing from behind. It is scrambling to catch up and making the kind of mistakes common to that scenario.

    Meanwhile, Baidu is similarly behind Microsoft and may face regulatory hurdles that cripple its ability to compete effectively.

    While Yahoo can’t be ruled out, the burden of proof is on it, as to whether it can compete any better in the AI Search War than it did in the original Search Wars.

    Ultimately, this will likely come down to a two-way battle between Microsoft and Google, the two companies that have the resources and expertise to drive this new era of AI-driven search forward.

    In addition to being first to the party, Microsoft has another major advantage over its rival: It is moving like a nimble startup, outmaneuvering Google. As we have written before, in instance after instance, Microsoft is moving forward in a decisive fashion while Google gets bogged down, acting like “a stodgy, risk-averse corporate entity.”

    Read More: How Microsoft Is Outmaneuvering Google

    Regardless of how much Google has dominated search to date, the future is wide open and may well be Microsoft’s to lose.

  • Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Baidu is preparing to unveil an AI-powered, ChatGPT-like search engine based on the company’s Ernie tech.

    ChatGPT has become one of the most widely known conversational AIs and threatens to upend the search engine market. Microsoft is believed to be integrating it into a version of Bing, and Google is pulling out all the stops to come up with its own answer.

    According to Bloomberg, via Engadget, China’s Baidu is preparing to launch its own conversational AI search engine. The new product will be based on Ernie, which is the company’s large-scale machine-learning model.

    Baidu no doubt hopes conversational AI will help it reinvigorate its search engine and spark future growth. If the company can move fast enough, it may even be able to gain ground on its rivals.

  • Baidu Will Deploy Driverless Taxis in China

    Baidu Will Deploy Driverless Taxis in China

    Baidu is poised to become the first company to deploy driverless taxis in China after winning regulatory approval.

    Companies around the world are racing to develop and deploy driverless vehicles. Baidu just achieved a major step, gaining approval to operate driverless taxis in Wuhan and Chongqing, according to The Boston Globe.

    The company plans to work with additional cities, such as Beijing and Guangzhou, to gain approval to operate there as well.

    “It’s as if we’ve landed on the moon and built a base there,” said Wei Dong, vice-president of Baidu Intelligence Driving Group. “It’s just a matter of time for us to go to Mars or even beyond our solar system.”

    As the Globe points out, Baidu has been aggressively expanding from its search engine roots to artificial intelligence and self-driving vehicles. If the company is as successful with its driverless taxis as it has been in the search engine industry, it could quickly dominate the field in China.

  • Baidu Warned it May Be Delisted Over Audit Concerns

    Baidu Warned it May Be Delisted Over Audit Concerns

    Chinese search giant Baidu has been warned it may be delisted as a result of audit concerns.

    Baidu is the dominant search engine in China, and is currently listed on the Nasdaq. Unfortunately for Baidu, its listing is in jeopardy, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) putting the company on a provisional list of companies that face delisting under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA).

    Companies are put on the provisional list when “the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) has determined that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in the foreign jurisdiction.”

    Once a company is put on the provisional list, it has 15 business days to contact the SEC staff and provide evidence to support why it should not be delisted. In the case of Baidu, the deadline is April 20, 2022.

    Should Baidu fail to appeal its placement on the provisional list, or fail to convince the SEC it should remain on the Nasdaq, its delisting will likely exacerbate the US/China trade issues.

  • Companies Race to Fix Critical Zero-Day Vulnerability

    Companies Race to Fix Critical Zero-Day Vulnerability

    Companies around the world are racing to patch a critical zero-day vulnerability that is among the worst ever found.

    Cyber security experts and government officials began warning Friday of a critical bug in “Log4j,” a Java-based logging framework used in Apache. As news of the vulnerability became known, the list of impacted companies grew to include some of the biggest in the world.

    Palo Alto Networks reported that iCloud, Twitter, Amazon, Baidu and Minecraft were impacted, to name just a few. Even worse, the vulnerability is actively being exploited and attacked, putting many companies at risk.

    The director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a statement outlining the seriousness of the vulnerability.

    “We are taking urgent action to drive mitigation of this vulnerability and detect any associated threat activity. We have added this vulnerability to our catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities, which compels federal civilian agencies — and signals to non-federal partners — to urgently patch or remediate this vulnerability. We are proactively reaching out to entities whose networks may be vulnerable and are leveraging our scanning and intrusion detection tools to help government and industry partners identify exposure to or exploitation of the vulnerability. 

    To be clear, this vulnerability poses a severe risk. We will only minimize potential impacts through collaborative efforts between government and the private sector. We urge all organizations to join us in this essential effort and take action.” 

    Cybersecurity experts are echoing CISA’s assessment of the danger, calling the vulnerability a major issue for the tech and cybersecurity community.

    Dr. Richard Ford, CTO of cybersecurity research firm Praetorian, told WebProNews the Log4j is even worse than other, widely reported vulnerabilities.

    “Praetorian researchers weaponized the vulnerability within hours and have a fully working exploit that we can use in the field,” said Dr. Richard Ford. “As background, Praetorian is an Austin-based cybersecurity solutions company that helps solve complex cybersecurity problems across critical enterprise assets and product portfolios. Their combination of software and security expertise puts them at the forefront of vulnerabilities such as this. Earlier this year, Praetorian was at the forefront of another critical vulnerability, proxylogon. The company says, as critical as proxylogon was to resolve, it had a much smaller potential impact than Log4j.

    “The company’s engineers and researchers have been working since last night in a war room to scan its customers and are finding vulnerabilities in the field. Worse yet, we’re also inadvertently discovering the vulnerability in 3rd parties who are on adjacent or integrated systems. Naturally, we are following responsible disclosure policies so cannot call out these systems by name, but it is one of the largest exposures we have seen at Internet scale. All vulnerabilities are typically scored by how dangerous they are: this vulnerability has practically the highest score possible, and it seems likely that even some professionals are unaware of its potential impact. The situation is rapidly evolving, and we are learning a great deal about the scope and impact of this vulnerability as we quickly work with customers to help mitigate the risk in the short term while they work on a long term solution, which will require patching all instances of the vulnerable code – a process which could take months.”

    Due to Log4J’s widespread use, experts believe companies will continue to come under attack in the coming days as mitigation efforts are being taken.

    “ This vulnerability feels similar to ShellShock, first identified in 2014, and still observed by GreyNoise,” Andrew Morris, Founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm GreyNoise told WebProNews. “Due to ease of exploitation and prevalence of Log4J, GreyNoise researchers believe that this activity will continue to increase over the next few days.”

  • Baidu Gets Permission to Test Self-Driving Cars in California

    Baidu Gets Permission to Test Self-Driving Cars in California

    Baidu is the latest company to receive permission to test self-driving cars in California.

    Self-driving and autonomous vehicles are considered one of the next big steps in the automotive industry. Virtually every manufacturer is working on some kind of autonomous software, with varying degrees of success.

    Baidu is the latest to company ready to test its self-driving tech, and California has granted it a permit to test three autonomous cars, without a driver behind the wheel, according to Reuters. Baidu is the sixth company to receive a permit to test without a driver, with a total of 58 companies cleared to test self-driving cars with a backup driver.

    As Reuters points out, Baidu is currently testing some 500 self-driving vehicles, although most are in China. The company has also mostly tested vehicles with a backup driver, and has yet to announce when it will start testing vehicles with no driver.

  • Baidu Joins the Quantum Cloud Computing Industry

    Baidu Joins the Quantum Cloud Computing Industry

    Baidu has unveiled Quantum Leaf, a new cloud-based quantum computing platform at its Baidu World 2020 developer conference.

    Quantum computing is the next big evolution of the computing industry. Quantum computing promises to usher in a new era of computing and will upend industries as a result. Cryptography, artificial intelligence and physics are just a few of the fields that will be impacted.

    Baidu had previously announced Paddle Quantum, “a quantum machine learning development toolkit based on PaddlePaddle that can help scientists and developers quickly build and train quantum neural network models and provide advanced quantum computing applications.”

    Now the company has built on that with the release of Quantum Leaf, “a new cloud-native quantum computing platform named Quantum Leaf. It is used for programming, simulating and executing quantum computers, aimed at providing the quantum programming environment for Quantum infrastructure as a Service (QaaS).”

    The news comes as an increasing number of companies are offering cloud-based quantum computing, one of the most recent being Xanadu.

  • China Using Big Data and AI to Fight Coronavirus

    China Using Big Data and AI to Fight Coronavirus

    In an effort to get ahead of the corona virus, China is turning to big data and artificial intelligence to help identify those infected.

    According to the International Business Times (IBT), “several Chinese tech firms have developed apps to help people check if they have taken the same flight or train as confirmed virus patients, scraping data from lists published by state media.” The data is also giving officials the ability to track down individuals who may have been exposed, screen them and forecast how the disease will spread.

    Baidu developed a system that uses infrared and AI-powered facial recognition to screen people at the railway station for a possible fever. Anyone with a temperature 99 degrees Fahrenheit or above is flagged for further checks. IBT reports that the “system can check more than 200 people a minute, far faster than the thermal scanners used at airports.”

    Companies are also developing ways to both prevent the spread of the disease, as well as help those already infected. Some cities are using robots to scold people who are not wearing masks in public, while other companies are working on using drones to deliver medical supplies to the sick.

    As China continues to struggle with the deadly outbreak, technology may well be the key to turning the tide.

  • Baidu Takes AI Crown, Achieves New Level of Language Understanding

    Baidu Takes AI Crown, Achieves New Level of Language Understanding

    The ability to talk with an artificial intelligence (AI), be it a computer or robot, has been a staple of science fiction for decades. Despite modern advances, anyone who has used Siri, Alexa, Cortana or the Google Assistant knows we’re still a ways off from what’s portrayed in science fiction.

    Chinese tech giant Baidu has just taken a big step in that direction, however. According to the MIT Technology Review, Baidu has leapfrogged Microsoft and Google in helping AI better understand language.

    General Language Understanding Evaluation (GLUE) is the industry benchmark used to gauge an AI’s language comprehension skills. For perspective, most humans manage a score of 87 out of 100. Baidu’s model, however, scored a 90—a first for AI models.

    The team attributed their breakthrough with ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through kNowledge IntEgration) to the steps they needed to take in order to help it understand Chinese. The most advanced AI language models use a technique called “masking,” where the AI randomly hides words in order to predict the meaning of the sentence. Because of the differences between Chinese and English, Baidu “researchers trained ERNIE on a new version of masking that hides strings of characters rather than single ones. They also trained it to distinguish between meaningful and random strings so it could mask the right character combinations accordingly.”

    Not only did this method allow ERNIE to better understand Chinese language, but those lessons also improved its English processing, enabling it to achieve the highest GLUE score yet. Hopefully, this breakthrough will help pave the way for the type of AI interactions that have, so far, existed only in the realm of science fiction.

  • Is International SEO More Important Now?

    Is International SEO More Important Now?

    Ranking in search engines, particularly Google, is not getting any easier, but how often are you considering the search engines around the globe? Many in the industry see international SEO as only gaining in importance.

    Do you think it’s more important for marketers to optimize for different search engines around the world than it used to be? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    A recent report from BrightEdge indicates that the majority of search marketers think that it is becoming more important for sites to rank in global search engines. According to the firm’s survey, six out of ten believe it will become either “more” or “much more” important this year, compared to last year. 36% said “more,” while 27% said “much more.”

    Global SEO

    “SEO marketers at global companies aspire to reach customers worldwide, and drive leads, revenue and traf!c through global SEO initiatives,” says BrightEdge in the report. “Looking beyond a single country also helps them demonstrate a greater ROI on marketing investments. Not only does this boost marketing ROI but also maintains global brand consistency while accommodating local nuances. A global concerted approach to SEO marketing addresses these needs.”

    Respondents were specifically asked about Chinese search giant Baidu, with 31% saying it would be much more important to rank in Baidu in 2013, and 10% saying “much more important”.

    BrightEdge - Baidu

    “With roughly 540 million internet users, 900 million mobile users and 388 million mobile internet users, China is the world’s largest internet market,” says BrightEdge. “Baidu, China’s dominant search engine, is one of the most valuable gateways to this large internet user base.”

    You can download the report in its entirety here. It deals with numerous topics, far beyond the topic of global SEO.

    Another recent report (via MarketingCharts) from Covario found that Baidu generated three times more global paid search clicks than Yahoo/Bing in Q1.

    “I no longer believe it makes sense for any company to roll out an international SEO programme to multiple countries without also having a PPC campaign in place,” writes WebCertain CEO Andy Atkins-Krüger in a post for Search Engine Land about multinational SEO. “In some cases, we would recommend leading with PPC and landing pages first, rather than full blown (and relatively expensive) international SEO.”

    He adds, “There are a number of reasons why we recommend this, but one is that user satisfaction on your site can be measured much more quickly with PPC than with SEO. Behavior really matters — so if you can study it first and quickly with PPC, your SEO efforts later will work out to be much more successful. I do worry that the association of search engine warnings with SEO being ‘bad’ are beginning to stick with people who are newer to the industry, and therefore, SEO is having a health warning attached.”

    Dave Davies has a great article on international SEO considerations at Search Engine Watch, in which he concludes, “While expanding one’s market is generally a good thing, what people often forget is that you still have to maintain what you have, so make sure you have the resources. Many wars have been lost simply by trying to fight them on too many fronts.”

    “If you have just enough resources to dedicate to a successful SEO strategy in your own country, it doesn’t make sense to expand in that you’ll be drawing resources away from the strategy that’s keeping the lights on,” he adds. “You need to make sure it’s the right decision for your business and if it is, make sure that you’re picking the right strategies to maximize your odds of success in the shortest period of time.”

    In your international optimization efforts, you may also want to keep in mind some recent changes Google has made to its indexing systems. They’re now treating some country-code TLDs differently in terms of geography vs. generic. The list will change over time, but right now, these are the ccTLDs Google is considering generic: .ad, .as, .bz, .cc, .cd, .co, .dj, .fm, .gg, .io, .la, .me, .ms, .nu, .sc, .sr, .su, .tv, .tk and .ws.

    Are you increasing your focus on international SEO, or are you simply focusing on your own region? Let us know in the comments.

  • Baidu Acquires Majority Stake In Chinese Video Property iQiyi

    In a move that should seal its spot as the Google of China, Baidu announced that it has acquired a stake in online video platform iQiyi from Providence Equity Partners though the property is closer to a Hulu than to a YouTube.

    iQiyi, formerly known as Qiyi, was the first online video platform in China to focus exclusively on fully licensed, high-def and professionally produced content, according to Baidu. While YouTube is obviously not exclusive to this content, it has been making major effort to feature more of it.

    As of August, iQiyi was ranked as the top online video platform in the country (based on average time spent per user). It was also number two in terms of total monthly time spent (based on data from iResearch).

    “Online video is a key strategic vertical for Baidu as user numbers and time-spend continue to increase exponentially, underscoring the tremendous potential in the sector,” said Baidu CEO Robin Li. “We are very pleased with the progress iQiyi has made and have confidence that iQiyi’s management will continue to grow its leading position. Going forward, we see users spending more and more time on online video and we will integrate iQiyi’s content more seamlessly into Baidu’s overall search and mobile services.”

    iQiyi founder and CEO Dr. Yu Gong said, “iQiyi has established a great business foundation and strong brand recognition and we look forward to leveraging our relationship with Baidu to further drive superior user and advertising customer experience.”

    Once the transaction is completed, Baidu will own the majority stake in the company. Providence Equity Partners recently sold a stake in Hulu as well.

  • Baidu, Apple To Share iOS Search Revenue

    Baidu, Apple To Share iOS Search Revenue

    When Apple announced iOS 6 during Monday’s WWDC 2012 keynote, they introduced a whole slew of new features. In fact, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system will include more than 200 new features, including an all-new Maps app, Facebook integration, improvements to Siri, and much more.

    Since the announcement, there has been one feature of iOS 6 that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the American press: Baidu. During the keynote, Apple announced that iOS (and OS X Mountain Lion), would be getting Baidu as an option for the default search engine in China. Baidu, in case you’re not familiar with it, is basically China’s answer to Google (after all, Google and China have a relationship that is… less than friendly). While Google rules the world of search throughout most of the world, Baidu’s share of the Chinese search market is around 80%.

    Today, some of the terms of Apple’s deal with Baidu have become public. In an interview with Bloomberg, Baidu vice president Wang Jing said that Apple would be receiving a percentage of the revenues generated by Baidu searches on iOS and Mountain Lion devices. Though Wang declined to disclose the actual amount, he did say that the deal is similar to those Baidu has with other smartphone manufacturers. Thanks to such deals Baidu is, ironically, the default search engine on many Android phones in China.

  • Baidu: Chinese People Can’t Spell Google

    Baidu: Chinese People Can’t Spell Google

    Baidu is on a mission to take over the world, but seriously, who isn’t? There’s only a couple markets in the world where Google is present, but not dominant and they include China, South Korea, and Russia. Actually it should be surprising to learn that Google actually lost a seven percent market share to Baidu last month.

    It’s also interesting to note that Baidu and Google share many of the same web services such as a browser, an Android-base operating system, news, internet TV, and maps.

    Baidu’s Director of International Communications Kaiser Kuo granted an interview to CNN a couple of years ago and he explained some of the initial success of Baidu:

    ‘You probably remember that early on there were surveys that showed that most Chinese internet users simply couldn’t spell the word Google to type it into their browser.”

    “Baidu has really always anticipated the use [and] needs of the chinese internet user and done it very well.”

    “…We are still very much focused on the Chinese market.”

    Despite this focus, Kuo explains that he sees a bright future for the search engine and expects it to expand and grow in the years to come.

    He explains further:

    “We’ve never made a secret of the fact that we intend to become a global brand,”

    It seems that Kuo now has some evidence to support his claims as Baidu has experienced an almost 80% profit growth when looking at the last quarter of 2011, as compared with the same time the year before.

    Baidu is an organization to keep an eye on. Perhaps they will overtake Google in the future or even better yet, they will some how be affiliated with each other. I’ll try to stay up to date on what they’re doing.

  • Dell And Baidu Bring New Smartphone to China

    Dell And Baidu Bring New Smartphone to China

    At a press conference in China this morning Dell unveiled a new the Streak Pro 101DL. The smartphone is the result of a collaboration with Baidu, China’s top search engine, and will run the company’s Yi operating system. Yi is Linux-based, but highly customized to work with Baidu and cater to the specific needs of Chinese users, and capable of running Android apps.

    Dell Streak Pro

    The new phone sports an impressive set of tech specs, including a 4.3 inch AMOLED screen and a 1.5 Ghz dual-core Qualcomm processor. At the press conference Dell’s president of Greater China said that this would be the first of many Dell products coming to the Chinese smartphone market, and that China was becoming a sufficiently important market that many of Dell’s products would be launching there before other countries. This is already the case with the Dell Streak 10 Pro, a 10 inch Android tablet that launched in China earlier this year, but has yet to make it to American shores. In fact, Dell has pulled out of the US tablet market completely, at least for the time being, though the company maintains a presence in the tablet market in other countries, including China, where the Streak 10 Pro is fairly popular.

  • Baidu’s Stock Up On Word Of Facebook Partnership

    The stock market, as a whole, did not do well today.  The Dow and Nasdaq stayed about level, gaining and losing 0.01 percent and 0.32 percent, respectively, while AOL, Apple, and Yahoo all suffered losses of greater than 1.00 percent.  But Baidu’s stock rose by a significant amount thanks to news that it’s partnered with Facebook.

    Some background info on that development: as we reported earlier, Facebook and Baidu are supposed to be working together on a new, China-specific social network.  And that has a sort of unstoppable sound to it, considering Facebook’s expertise in the field and Baidu’s search dominance in China.

    So if the social network comes into being, proves popular, and attracts advertisers (who should already be more than familiar with Baidu), it could represent a significant new stream of revenue for whatever parties share in the profits.

    More than a few investors have apparently perceived and bet on that possibility.  Baidu’s stock jumped 2.68 percent during normal trading hours today, putting its market cap at an impressive $50.63 billion.

    By comparison, the respective market caps of AOL, IAC, Yahoo, and eBay are just $2.11 billion, $2.72 billion, $21.72 billion, and $40.47 billion.

    Of course, the trick will be seeing if Baidu’s stock manages to sustain these levels over time.  Baidu and Facebook still haven’t confirmed the existence of any alliance, and even if they are working together, it’ll probably take more than a few weeks for their new social network to come together.

    Baidu will have to deliver its first quarter earnings report soon, too, which is sure to have an effect one way or the other.

  • Report: Baidu Execs Visiting Facebook In CA

    A partnership between Facebook and Chinese search giant Baidu – long the subject of rumors and speculation – might be closer than ever.  An unconfirmed report indicates that Baidu execs are visiting Facebook in California for the sake of discussing a deal.

    Bill Bishop, who’s bilingual and thereby able to read the original story, wrote yesterday, "Sina News reported on Friday afternoon that unnamed Baidu executives have flown to Silicon Valley to discuss possible cooperation with Facebook."

    That would fit an established pattern of behavior.  First Mark Zuckerberg visited Baidu’s headquarters in December.  Then a Baidu exec called for Facebook to enter China, and Facebook opened an ad sales office in Hong Kong.

    So it’s easy to imagine another meeting would follow, perhaps along with a formal arrangement.

    And on that note, Bishop later wrote, "What might a Baidu-Facebook partnership look like?  I have no insider knowledge, but that won’t stop me from speculating.  It would probably take the form of a joint venture for China to launch a China-specific, sanitized version of Facebook that would have limited if any linkages and data sharing with the global, ex-China Facebook."

    As always, we’ll be sure to report any significant updates.

  • Baidu Reports Big Jump In Revenue, Profits

    Baidu Reports Big Jump In Revenue, Profits

    Chinese search company Baidu shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to making money.  Late yesterday, the company released its fourth quarter earnings report, and analysts’ expectations were surpassed in pretty much every respect.

    To sort of cut to the chase: Baidu’s stock is up 6.69 percent in early morning trading, which shows the degree to which the company impressed investors.  Jumps like that don’t occur on an everyday basis.

    As for some details, Baidu reported $371.3 million in net revenue (a 94.4 percent increase from a year earlier) rather than the $360.3 million analysts had forecast.  Also, the company reported $175.9 million in net profit (up 171.3 percent) instead of $156.2 million.

    That led to earnings per share of $0.50 versus analysts’ estimates of $0.46.

    Robin Li, Baidu’s CEO and chairman, stated as a result, "This has been another quarter of outstanding performance for Baidu, with market momentum and our continued improvement in monetization fuelling top line growth.  Baidu continues to build upon our clear leadership in China’s search market.  Looking forward we will further integrate search with online activities such as e-commerce and social networking and I am confident that Baidu will remain at the center of China’s Internet ecosystem."

    Baidu’s execs expect it to continue to return good financial results, as well.

  • Google Sees Search Ad Gain In China

    Early last year, it looked like Google might leave (or get kicked out) of China.  Then, in a business sense, the best-case scenario appeared to be a series of embarrassing losses to Baidu.  But a new report from Analysys International indicates that Google’s share of search advertising revenue in China may have stabilized at a respectable level.

    Michael Kan wrote earlier today, "The search engine giant’s share of Chinese search advertising revenue rose to 23.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 1.5 percentage-point increase from the third quarter, Analysys International said Tuesday."

    That’s a nice increase for a three-month period, especially since Google’s share had been sliding.

    Of course, Kan noted, "At the end of 2009 . . . Google had a 35.6 percent share."  And Analysys International indicated that Baidu’s share of the market remained at 71.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, so the dominant Chinese company isn’t exactly floundering.

    Still, a gain is a gain under any circumstances, and Google fans might be able to interpret this as a sign Google’s rebounding from rock bottom.

    We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for additional stats that could signal if Google’s managing to make gains in a country with over 1.3 billion people/potential users.

  • Baidu’s Twitter Imitation Collects 1 Million Users

    An apples-to-apples comparison may not be possible here, given that Twitter used to keep its stats private, time’s passed, and Twitter and a service called Baidu Talk operate in different markets.  But Baidu Talk, Baidu’s Twitter-esque product, is doing quite well, apparently racking up a million users in a rather short period of time.

    Michael Kan wrote today, "China’s largest search engine Baidu reports that its new microblogging service has grabbed more than 1 million users after being launched three months ago."

    Then Kan continued, "[T]he service incorporates Twitter-like features, but is being built to become a fully fledged social networking platform.  Baidu Talk was launched in mid-September as a closed beta, with new users being brought in through invitation only."

    So this is a very impressive achievement that appears to outshine Twitter’s own arrival at the million-user mark.  As a result, Baidu fans and shareholders may be able to look forward to the company hauling in revenue from a whole new field.

    Then one other thing to consider is what this development might mean for Facebook in China, as one Baidu exec said earlier this week that he’d like to see Facebook enter the country.  Now it looks like Baidu would be able to lend the company some expertise if both sides were agreeable.

    Baidu Talk will definitely bear watching over the next few months.

  • Baidu Exec Calls For Facebook To Enter China

    A couple words of caution: Baidu doesn’t speak for the Chinese government, and no one’s hinted that any sort of formal alliance exists between Baidu and Facebook.  A high-ranking Baidu spokesperson has said he’d like to see Facebook operate in China, however.

    Kaiser Kuo, Director of International Communications at Baidu, indicated his support while participating in an online discussion about Mark Zuckerberg today.  On Quora, Kuo started by confirming that Zuckerberg met with Robin Li, Baidu’s CEO.

    Then Kuo continued, "[A] Facebook entry into China would be fraught with challenges but personally I believe that having Facebook in China, even if it were compelled to abide by China’s strict censorship requirements, would still be better than not having it here.  I believe that it would be a net positive for China’s Internet users.  More connectivity is better than less."

    Of course, plenty of questions about human rights and censorship exist.  Plus, American companies have often had trouble getting traction in China even when they obey the Chinese government’s every request.

    Still, it looks like Facebook’s got a friend in Baidu – the company that’s pretty well crushed Google – when it comes to establishing a presence in China.

    We’ll keep an eye out for any interesting statements on Zuckerberg’s part when he returns from his trip to Beijing.  Hat tip goes to Oliver Chiang.