Baidu expands to take on Google in Japan

The dominance of Google in the search space is almost written in stone in North America, but there may yet be some populous spots in the world where the market is wide open. Now its main Chinese competitor has launched a new assault.

While the US market looks to Yahoo as perhaps the sole competitor in the Internet search space capable of mounting a serious challenge to Google in 2008, there's one area of the world where Google has yet to gain a stronghold: Asia. Now the Chinese market leader, Baidu, is mounting its first strategic mission to capture Google users from outside its home base, setting up shop this morning with a new portal aimed at Japan.

If Google is vulnerable anywhere in the world in particular, it's Japan. There, Yahoo has held a usage share lead for over seven years, with Google's Japan-directed efforts only having started in 2002. Ironically, Google was Yahoo's search engine provider for Japan up through 2004. A Nielsen/NetRatings report just last week showed Yahoo's user base in Japan continuing to climb, past the 43 million user mark, though Google clinched the #2 spot for the first time at about 28 million users, nudging out Rakuten.

Meanwhile, Baidu's statistics for China are compiled by a state-run analysis service, the Chinese Internet Network Information Center. Last September, that agency revealed at a state Internet congress that it estimates Baidu's usage share to be 74.3% nationwide, compared with Google's 14.3%.

Among what the agency called "high-end users" (high-salary workers at least 25 years of age) the split was more even: Baidu 47.72%, Google 42.32%.

Last October, it was revealed that at least some of Baidu's users were obtained by an IP address redirection that pilfered users directly from Google.

But what exactly will Baidu offer Japanese users -- besides such unexpected detours -- that can distinguish it in that market, especially since Japan is not known for mandating that its citizens receive filtered content? In a statement this morning, Baidu's Japan division chief Masuda Jun would not say much: "Following the formal launch of our Japan site, we expect to see even greater user reception to the four different Japanese language services we will offer, including Web search, image search, video search and blog search services."

A check of Baidu.jp this afternoon showed those four pillars of the site were given equal-sized columns on the new front page, which does look more full-featured like Yahoo than plain-and-simple like Google, or like Baidu.cn. Most viewed videos and images thus far include plenty of those strange animations that are so popular in Asia, featuring folks with either oversized or undersized eyes.

In an early show of openness, popular videos listed on Baidu.jp included several hosted by AmebaVision, a Japanese video hosting service run by CyberAgent.