BEIJING, March 7 -- CEOCIO Magazine, through its China Business Feature ( http://www.cbfeature.com/ ), recently reported on the mobile search industry in China, and Google's decision to enter the ever increasingly competitive market.

China Business Feature reported that, "China's mobile phone users who've been using their phones to access the Internet have been noticing something new lately. A search box appears on China Mobile's "Monternet", a portal designed for PDA and smart-phone handheld devices. Through it, users can search for relevant information by just entering keywords. This service is the result of a joint project between China Mobile, a major telecom carrier in China, and Google.

"The results have so far been quite limited: Monternet can only provide a limited search at this point and Google has yet to introduce searches over the wider content of massive free WAP websites. In addition, Google's mobile search engine can only support some 6% of the total mobile phone models in China.

"Despite its relatively small scale, the venture has produced a "butterfly effect" in China. Not long after the news of the deal was released, Beijing- based wireless search service provider Cgogo Technology announced that it would launch "local search" services jointly with Nokia. Last March, Baidu, China's No.1 Internet search company, also reached an agreement with Nokia to embed its search engine in the Nokia N-Series mobile phones.

"As early as 2001, Google showed interest in mobile search and set up a R&D team. Today, Google has signed cooperation agreements with several of the world's largest mobile carriers to provide them with search services. Its cooperation with China Mobile is no more than an extension of Google's global mobile search strategy.

"But simply working with China Mobile does not mean that Google is assured top spot in the market. Because its current understanding of China's search market is not as good as Baidu's, Google may not surpass the Chinese professional mobile search companies.

"Google has been developing a set of new mobile Internet search ranking algorithms. But the large-scale application testing will require more time to determine the effectiveness of the search algorithm. Moreover, because different file formats are adopted on the Internet and mobile phone, it's hard for Google to give play, on mobile, to the technological advantages, which it has accumulated on the Internet over many years.

While Google maintains air superiority on the mobile search battlefield, its competitors in China have been digging tunnels and are now ready for combat. It will be very difficult to storm those heavily fortified positions."

This is an abstract of the report. Read the complete story. ( http://www.ceocio.com.cn/traffic/xprn/20070305.asp )

Background:

China Business Feature (CBF) is powered by CEOCIO China magazine, a leading Chinese business and management publication. It is subordinate to International Data Group (IDG). When you click on CBfeature.com, you get the latest feature stories, updated every day, by more than 30 reporters and editors at CEOCIO China, as well as researchers from professional, independent organizations, with a bird's-eye view of Chinese enterprises and the Chinese market. The business features here are rooted in long-term, objective attention to the companies we explore and the people who run them. With a deep understanding of China's business environment, our stories are focused on being relevant, practical and compelling. The information we provide can make a meaningful difference to your decision.

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