Xinhua, China Mobile to establish internet search company

[Alcoholico]

China will launch an official state controlled new search engine.

Called "Search Engine New Media International Communications Co.," the joint venture will focus on creating a leading search engine while actively developing other businesses, including the internet, print media and advertising....

[china.org.cn...]

I just wanted to share the news, please delete the link if not appropriate.

[bill]

Xinhua is the official state news agency in China, and, as the article says, China Mobile is the world's biggest mobile operator by subscribers. If you wanted to start a search company this is a good combination of partners. However, there is a big difference between announcing your intentions to form a search company and actually bringing something to market that could challenge the likes of Baidu or Google.

I've seen similar efforts fail in Japan [webmasterworld.com]. They had the backing of the government and several globally known corporations to make a search engine and nothing has come of it.

It would be good to have some more competition in the Chinese search field, but they have a difficult task ahead of them.