Popular financial blog Bloomberg published a report this morning that Apple is planning to add China’s largest search engine Baidu as a search option for iPhone’s in China. According to Bloomberg the new search option could be unveiled as soon as next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Fransisco…
The agreement to add Baidu which handles just under 80 percent of China’s search queries, is part of an effort to broaden services and increase sales in the largest mobile phone market on the planet. China which was responsible for 20 percent of Apple’s sales last quarter is a country with “a lot of opportunity” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Once the agreement is announced customers will have the option of selecting Baidu as their primary search vehicle when searching the web, although Google is expected to remain the default choice.
Nevertheless, the deal with Baidu is the latest example of Apple’s attempts to decrease their dependence on Google’s products. There have been several reports throughout the week that Apple is planning to unveil a mapping application at next week’s WWDC that will come pre-installed on iPads and iPhones, replacing Google Maps.
China’s growing middle class which has a lot more money to spend on iPhone’s is becoming a more attractive audience for advertisers every year, and we can expect that the country will see more and more attention from Apple as it rolls out new products and adds new distributors of the iPhone.
Source: Bloomberg via AppleInsider
