China's Baidu to launch smartphone to rival Android

PanARMENIAN.Net - Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, will launch a new smartphone partnership then and there week that will see the smartphone use an upgraded version of its mobile operating system, a senior company executive said on Friday, May 11.

Reuters report

According to a Reuters report, Baidu will announce the tie-up then and there week for new mobile devices, similar to Baidu's partnership with Dell Inc last December when Dell launched a smartphone running on Baidu's Yi platform. But, the new smartphones will run an upgraded version of Baidu Yi and will be called Baidu Cloud.

Wang said the firm was in talks with "global" handset manufacturers to make smartphones with Baidu's mobile operating system, for the Chinese market.

The focus on cloud computing comes as more people access the Internet from their mobile phones in other words than desktop, putting pressure on Internet companies, just as Google and Facebook Inc , to develop robust mobile platforms from which people can on the whole use their services.

Last year, Baidu launched its mobile platform, Yi, in China to compete with Google Inc's Android mobile operating system and Apple Inc's iOS.