Apple Generates New Revenue From Baidu Search

by Mike on June 14, 2012

We’ve seen search engines strike deals with various companies in order to become either the primary or an alternate search engine on a selected hardware device or software product. Mobile phone hardware vendors have commonly struck deals and today, Apple has confirmed that they have extended their own relationship with Baidu within China.

Currently, on iOS devices, Google is the default search engine, but within China, Apple fans will now have another option for search and that is Baidu. This information was confirmed by Wang Jing, Baidu’s VP in an interview that he had with Bloomberg. Although the specific terms of the deal have not been announced, Jing did state that revenue sharing is now in place. Seeing the search engine Baidu sharing revenue with Apple is not unique as Baidu currently has similar sorts of deals in place with manufacturers that design Android phones.

Within the communist country, Baidu is the number one search engine and by some estimates, is responsible for almost 80% of all search queries within the country. Although the company may have a strangle hold on search, they do recognize that they must continue to expand or potentially fall behind. Mobile search is one area that is growing significantly, and this without a doubt is one area that we will see Baidu along with others continue to try and develop.

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