Baidu Mobile App Announced 400 million Users
Baidu Mobile app announced 400 million users, with 100 monthly active users, yesterday.
The Baidu Mobile has included all services the company offer, search, maps, music, video, mobile reading, news, Baike (a Wikipedia-like service), etc. The app streams videos through Baidu Video (a video aggregation and search service) and searches e-books across the Web and save them into your phone. It also has features like code scanner for price comparison.
Baidu Mobileアプリが4億ユーザに届き、月間アクティブユーザ数も1億に到達したと、昨日発表した。
Baidu Mobileは、検索、地図、音楽、動画、モバイル読書、ニュース、Baike（Wikipedia風のサービス）等、同社が提供する全てのサービスを利用可能にする。同アプリはBaidu Video（動画収集および検索サービス）を通じて動画ストリーミングができ、またウェブ上のe-bookを検索して各自の電話に保存することができる。また価格比較のためのバーコードスキャナーのような機能も持つ。
Baidu Mobile App社は昨日、4億ユーザ達成を発表した。うち1億は月単位で活発なユーザであるという。
Baidu Mobileは、自社が提供する全てのサービス、つまり、検索、地図、音楽、ビデオ、電子書籍、ニュース、Wikipadiaと類似のサービスであるBaike等を組み込んでいる。このアプリは、ビデオにおける統合・検索サービスであるBaidu Videoを通じてビデオをストリーミングし、Web上からeブックを探して、それらを携帯に保存する。また、価格比較のためのコードスキャナーのような特徴も備えている。
Companies like Baidu and UC Web call apps like Baidu Mobile super app that hopes to meet all the needs of mobile Internet users so that they’d stick with their apps. But the search engine and Baidu’s own services/content cannot bring everything to users. One big problem is native apps that cannot be accessed directly in Baidu Mobile. That’s why Baidu and UC Web tried to have all developers convert their native apps into web apps — Baidu calls them Light Apps –which can be included in their apps and are more search friendly. Baidu Mobile app has included a web app store for users to consume apps or content without leaving the app.
The core feature with Baidu Moible, of course, is still search where most of Baidu’s revenues are from. Baidu believes they have made mobile search much easier-to-use through technologies and new functions like voice search. In Q2 2013, for the first time 10% of Baidu’s total revenues was from mobile. But the company saw a higher percentage of traffic that had shifted from PC to mobile.
Monetizing mobile searches is one thing, mobile search in general is another problem Baidu has. It is recognized that currently searches on mobile devices are for apps or content. That’s why Baidu spent $18.5 billion acquiring 91 Wireless, one of the biggest app distributors in China. With the combination of 91 Wireless and web app platform, Baidu hopes to maintain its leading position in China mobile search market.
Chinese players who want to challenge Baidu’s dominance in China’s search market, including Qihoo and Sogou, believe that mobile search and monetizing it will be very different from that on PC, and there stands a chance to pull Baidu down in the mobile world. Sogou has been working on a recommendation engine. Qihoo CEO believes his company has been well positioned in app distribution and searches for apps/content with 360 Mobile Assistant, a mobile app management tool where users can also search for and download apps. He said last week on the Q3 2013 earnings conference call that Qihoo would soon launch a new mobile search product that would be different from traditional search service.
Baidu said at yesterday’s announcement event that for mobile search next they’d be focused on location-based search and user interests-based services.
