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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
December 28, 2007
Firefox Combines Baidu Search Engine
By Anshu Shrivastava TMCnet Contributing Editor
Firefox has announced its partnership with Baidu.com, the largest Chinese search service provider, which will embed Baidu’s search engine into its browsers.
Gong Li, CEO at Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Online, pointed out in a statement that by now most websites of Chinese banks and B2B portals such as Taobao.com do not support Firefox. He added, “It would be in Firefox's interests to boost up its brand recognition in China by joining hands with Baidu.com.”
Gong stated that the partnership with Baidu.com is a part of its long-term strategy in China, which aims to provide more personalized and localized services for Chinese Internet users.
iResearch latest statistics state that Baidu.com holds 66.2 percent of the market share in contrast to 62.6 percent by the fourth quarter last year. As an open-source browser, Firefox has a dismal share of 1 percent in China. However, latest statistics show that Firefox has grabbed more than 20 percent of the world market.
The biggest problem of Firefox in China, according to Gong, is lack of high- profile much-hyped advertising and promotions. He explained that so far most of Chinese Internet users still do not know about the browser, and they only know and use the Internet Explorer of Microsoft (News - Alert).
In addition, many Chinese users finally give away Firefox because it eats up too much memory; however, Mozilla is now hoping to figure the problem out.
Also, Firefox currently has more than 3000 plug-ins, but few of them are especially designed for Chinese users. Mozilla Online is planning to come up with more localized plug-ins in China.
The Firefox 3.0 is expected to get launched in the first quarter of 2008. Firefox is claiming that it is the safer and more user-friendly, and also it is embedded with malicious code inspection function and the anti-virus function.
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Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP
Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
Today’s featured White Paper (News - Alert) is titled VoIP Doesn’t Require Any Phone Equipment Investment, brought to you by Accessline.
Gong Li, CEO at Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Online, pointed out in a statement that by now most websites of Chinese banks and B2B portals such as Taobao.com do not support Firefox. He added, “It would be in Firefox's interests to boost up its brand recognition in China by joining hands with Baidu.com.”
Gong stated that the partnership with Baidu.com is a part of its long-term strategy in China, which aims to provide more personalized and localized services for Chinese Internet users.
iResearch latest statistics state that Baidu.com holds 66.2 percent of the market share in contrast to 62.6 percent by the fourth quarter last year. As an open-source browser, Firefox has a dismal share of 1 percent in China. However, latest statistics show that Firefox has grabbed more than 20 percent of the world market.
The biggest problem of Firefox in China, according to Gong, is lack of high- profile much-hyped advertising and promotions. He explained that so far most of Chinese Internet users still do not know about the browser, and they only know and use the Internet Explorer of Microsoft (News - Alert).
In addition, many Chinese users finally give away Firefox because it eats up too much memory; however, Mozilla is now hoping to figure the problem out.
Also, Firefox currently has more than 3000 plug-ins, but few of them are especially designed for Chinese users. Mozilla Online is planning to come up with more localized plug-ins in China.
The Firefox 3.0 is expected to get launched in the first quarter of 2008. Firefox is claiming that it is the safer and more user-friendly, and also it is embedded with malicious code inspection function and the anti-virus function.
---------
Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP
Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.Today’s featured White Paper (News - Alert) is titled VoIP Doesn’t Require Any Phone Equipment Investment, brought to you by Accessline.
