Talk about using the leverage of your opponent’s strength in order to bring him down – that is the exact principle that Baidu intends to subscribe to. According to a top Baidu executive, out of all the Android-powered smartphones that are sold in China will see at least 80% of those coming with Baidu as their default search engine.
Since Google has always proudly touted Android to be an open operating system, it goes without saying that Android has become fair game for other companies to actually take Android and repurpose it to their ends – and this is exactly what Baidu has done by making sure the phones sold running on Android will compete with Google on the search front – at least in China.
This will include rumored Facebook phones and Amazon tablets, and since Baidu currently owns 75% marketshare in desktop search in China, coupled with what Google had gone through with China’s ruling government, you can safely say that the American brand is not exactly experiencing a growth spurt in that part of the world. All in all, who would have deviously thought that Baidu would actually rely on Google’s own mobile advertising system to beat them at their own game? Now that the cat’s out of the bag, how will Google respond?