Google Plans Acquisitions, Alliances, Social Network In China - Report

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Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) has plans to buy up and partner with companies to keep apace with Baidu, according to various reports.

IDG: ”Over the next year, Google will acquire one or two companies in China, and invest in four to five companies,” Google’s China president Kai-Fu Lee is quoted as saying by Chinese websites.

Alliances and cooperation are also on the cards, according to Lee, with Google aiming to “accelerate” its activities.

IHT: “The number of Chinese consumers searching for information on their cellphones may surpass those visiting Web sites on computers by 2009 and the shift could help Google catch up with Baidu, its rival, Google’s president for China, Lee Kaifu, said in an interview Wednesday.

Google Plans Acquisitions, Alliances, Social Network In China - Report [forbes.com]

[bill]

Interesting. A lot of the initial Internet take-up numbers in Japan included mobile phone Internet access as far back as the late 1990's. When they'd quote the number of Japanese online it often counted a lot of people who had yet to set hands on a PC. It will be interesting to see how they follow this in today's market in China.