Baidu.com Inc., China's leading Internet search company, began offering Japanese-language services Wednesday, taking aim at major search engine providers Yahoo Japan and Google Japan.
The Japanese site is Baidu's first overseas venture. Its market share at home stands at about 70 percent, far surpassing No. 2 Google. Its business model is advertisement driven.
Robin Li, Baidu's founder and chief executive officer, said at a news conference in Tokyo the company has a technological advantage because it has developed search engine services using kanji.
Li said offering search engine services for cell phones is "one of the key priorities" in Japan, and Baidu is in talks with Japanese businesses in the mobile phone industry. He did not give specific company names.
Internet browsing via mobile phones is more common here than in other countries thanks to fast data transmission.
Analysts say Baidu faces a big challenge in trying to win a piece of the Japanese market as a search engine service provider because the Chinese company is far less well-known than its U.S. rivals.
"It is not easy to enter the market," said Yuta Kose, a senior consultant at Japan Research Institute in Tokyo. "It is vital for Baidu to raise its brand awareness just as Softbank Corp. did when it entered the mobile phone business.
"Baidu will have to form a relationship with content providers" to succeed here, Kose said, noting that Yahoo Japan started out as a joint venture between its U.S. parent and Softbank Corp.
Kose also suggested that Baidu needs to specify targets and create content for them to differentiate itself from other search engine firms.