According to the companies, Baidu will embed its search technology into China Unicom's 3G mobile handsets, allowing China Unicom subscribers to use preinstalled applications to access Baidu including its text, image, MP3 and news search. Baidu, is China’s leading search engine with 61.6 per cent of China’s search revenue share in the second quarter of 2009, according to Analysys International,
The news comes ahead of China Unicom’s launch of the iPhone.
The move additionally reflects Baidu’s aim to focus on the mobile web, and strengthens Baidu’s existing relationship with China Unicom.
"We are very excited to join hands with China Unicom today following our partnership agreement with China Telecom in May," said Xuyang Ren, Baidu's vice-president of marketing and business development. "As the leader in Chinese-language search, we hope that Baidu's co-operation with major telecom providers in China will accelerate the development of 3G services and allow us to provide the rapidly growing population of mobile search users with better access to information."
Meanwhile Baidu’s search rival Google China has linked with China Mobile to launch two Android-based phones.
