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After months of preparation and beta testing, Baidu has finally launched its instant messaging system, Baidu Hi.

I have downloaded and installed the program, which is still labelled beta 2.The interface is blueish and clean, and to use it one need to register for a Baidu passport (or use previous access details if one is using another Baidu service).

Baidu Hi is a newcomer in an industry currently dominated by QQ, and to a lesser extent, MSN. By leveraging in its enormous user base and reach, Baidu Hi should be able to grow quickly in the months to come although it should not pose a threat to the top two IM leaders in a foreseable future.

Baidu Hi has a Baidu searchbar at its top and its main objective is to improve user loyalty to the company’s core search business.

Baidu Hi is currently available in Chinese only.

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>компютри втора употребаmebelirding to multiple reports, Google has set up a five years plan to gain supremacy in the search engine industry. To do so, it will need to win market share against the old rival, Baidu.com. In the short term, Google will invest in social networking sites and companies in China, while expanding on its mobile deals.

I think Google has two main issues that needs to be addressed quite urgently:

1-Google.cn is NOT better than Baidu.

2-Baidu offers services that are better than Google’s ones, or that Google just cannot offer (I am talking MP3 search for instance).

On the other hand, the mobile internet sure is growing fast, but I don’t think that it really matters at this point where the country is still struggling with its 3G standard. I also don’t see how beating Baidu in the mobile internet business can help in the PC-side of search.

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Well, at least according to an independent Japanese research firm (Video Search). According to their report, Baidu is now ranked fourth, trailing Yahoo Softbank (market leader), Google and MSN.

Personally, for a number of reasons, I don’t really expect Baidu to do that well in Japan, at least not that fast. I will be posting more on this as soon as I get additional information from other sources.

Baidu currently displays no ads with search results conducted on its Japanese site.

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I just tried to visit Baidu Japan site (www.baidu.jp) but it was not reachable. I was able however to get to it through a proxy site. Is Baidu Japan blocked in China or just a network glitch? I will try to connect to it from office and post updates here.

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Baidu has announced that it will implement measures for assisting Japanese advertisers to place ads on its PPC network.

Through the help of its Japanese unit, Japanese advertisers and ad agencies will receive advanced sales support, including translation of ad copy into Chinese and paying locally in Yens for their ad campaigns. So far, the only option for Japanese advertisers (as well us most international advertisers) to advertise on Baidu network was to open an account directly through the head office in a Chinese city and pay in RMB (Chinese Yuans).

The presence of Baidu in Japan explain this move (Baidu has just launched a couple of weeks ago its Japanese search engine baidu.jp); however, one can expect Baidu to start opening sales offices in other developped markets considering the increasing demand for advertising solutions targeting the Chinese market.

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Microsoft Adcenter has recently waived its $5 sign up fee, but furthermore the analytics tool, supposed to be the company’s answer to Google Analytics, is now boosting some new features:
-More reports: including more advanced visitor tracking and campaign reporting
-Summary rollups: all-in-one insight about ROI, visitor loyalty, conversions per referral etc.
-Segmented demographic tracking, by age group and gender
-Advanced tools to view and compare PPC campaign performance for multiple ad placement programs
-The ability to track marketing results beyond search ads

For more details, you can visit the Adcenter blog…

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Leading Chinese search engine Baidu and US-based analytics firm Omniture have formed a strategic alliance, that will see the later providing analytics technology to the first.

The new partnership should allow Baidu to provide its advertisers with more advanced tools to measure the profitability of their marketing campaigns, while improving their overall experience. Baidu has surpassed last year Sina as the number one player in the fast growing Chinese online advertising market.

Faced with a slowing US market, diversifying to China will also be a boost for Omniture bottom line. Clients of Omniture around the world will also be able to get more relevant analytics data about the Chinese online advertising market and Chinese consumers behavior in general.

Omniture’s major clients include Microsoft, AOL and Ebay.

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