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Microsoft is gearing up to grab a major market share from the Chinese search market through its Bing search engine after Google’s conflict with China. Earlier, Google had threatened to quit China on censoring issues. However, Microsoft announced that it would continue its service as usual.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in his blog, "We have done business in China for more than 20 years and we intend to stay engaged, which means our business must respect the laws of China. That's true for every company doing business in countries around the world: we are all subject to local laws."
He also said that Microsoft would continue the service and would go by the policies as per the Chinese national government. He was also hopeful of taking the advantage from the situation.
It is estimated that Google has 20% to 40% market share in China whereas Baidu grabs the major share in the country. But, the last year’s figure speaks something different. According to analysts, Google had a 35.6% share of market in Q409, as compared to 31.3% in the previous quarter, while Baidu's share fell to 58.4% from 63.9%.The recent report also says that Yahoo, Bing, and others have very less market presence and in last quarter, they had about 4.8% in market share.
Now, with the threat of Google’s exit, the competitors including Microsoft and Yahoo have good opportunity to come into the fray. Microsoft and Yahoo also expect their 10-year search and advertising deal to be approved early this year, which would power Bing to pose a strong challenge for Baidu.
According to analysts, Baidu may take majority of Google's share if the search giant leaves. Again, some of them feel that the current Google users may return back to Baidu also. But, the young users are still attached with Google due to some uncensored content on the web. So, those users may not find Baidu a nice option and eventually, they may switch to other search engines like Bing.
Baidu had gained in market share due to limited or lack of censorship of certain piracy results. Then, Google followed the trend by offering better features.
Ballmer said, "Microsoft is opposed to restrictions on peaceful political expression, and we have conversations with governments to make our views known.”
"In every country in which we operate, including China, Microsoft requires proper legal authority before we remove any Internet content; and if we remove content, we give users notice," he added.
Observing a good potential in business, a Microsoft official said, "Microsoft is committed to the China market and the search market in China is the most important strategic market for Microsoft."
"We specially set the search technology centre in China to get a deeper understanding of what Chinese users need, to be able to deliver the best product to them," Ballmer said.
"Engagement in China and around the world is very important to us, in part because we believe it accelerates access to 21st century technology and services and helps provide the widest possible range of ideas and information," Ballmer added.
However, it may take a lot of effort for Microsoft’s Bing to take the position like Google.
