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Apple Adding Baidu as iOS Search Engine Option in China?

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Tech in Asia points to a new report from Chinese site Sina.com claiming that Apple has reached a deal with Baidu to add the Chinese search engine as an option on its iOS browser as soon as next month.
Apparently, Baidu's cloud and mobile chief Li Mingyuan hinted at this during the launch of Baidu's cloud storage service last week, saying that the company already had a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Apple in China.

The implementation would give Safari users on iOS the option of setting Baidu -- rather than Google -- as their default search engine.
Click to expand...
It is not clear whether Baidu would appear as the Apple-set default search engine in iOS, although it seems that many Chinese users would prefer it to Google given Baidu's 80% share of the search market in the country.

baidu_ios_engine.jpg



Such a move would provide another means by which Apple could reduce its reliance on Google within in its iOS products. The company has been shifting to some non-Google mapping services and there have been occasional rumors that Apple has considered making Microsoft's Bing the default search engine for iOS.

A deal to make Baidu the default search engine for iOS in China would also be another step in Apple's efforts to increase support for Chinese users as it seeks to continue its momentum in the rapidly-growing market there. Apple earlier this month added China Telecom as its second iPhone carrier in the country, and its forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion will also include enhanced support for Chinese users including adding Baidu as a search engine option in Safari.

Article Link: Apple Adding Baidu as iOS Search Engine Option in China?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/26/apple-adding-baidu-as-ios-search-engine-option-in-china/
Q

qtx43

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2007
659
16
You should be able to just specify any search engine. I've been using duckduckgo lately, but I can't on iPad's Safari.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
It’s still amazing to me that more iPhones made in China STAY in China than are sent to the US. I’m still used to thinking of Apple’s market as being heavily weighted toward US sales.

jonnysods said:
Wirelessly posted

Please don't use Bing!
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I’ve been using Bing increasingly, and it’s OK.... until I want to do a visual search for information! Such as info on a flag, an animal, a building—anything where I know something about it but I don’t know exactly what to search for. So it’s nice to be able to try searching for a few descriptors (“duck with brown and green head canada”) and then browse Images results to narrow down the thing I’m after. But I'm seeking more than just an image—I want a web page with text and details, or at least the name of the thing so I can search more. Good luck on Bing! Bing on mobile will not take you to an image's original source page by any means I can discover! You get the raw image and a non-clickable listing of what the source is. I bet site owners love that just as much as I do...

OK, I’m done :)

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qtx43 said:
You should be able to just specify any search engine. I've been using duckduckgo lately, but I can't on iPad's Safari.
Click to expand...

Yes—seems like a non-brainer Advanced setting, for iOS Safari AND desktop Safari AND iOS’s system-wide search pane. Add/subtract search engines at will, including special-purpose ones like IMDB or Netflix or the docs of some software you use at work. Just add anything, and turn listed ones On and Off at will, the way you can with email accounts.
 
F

fruitycups

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2011
255
0
Wirelessly posted

What is apple's provlem with google.. Yea they ripped off the ios with andriod but google maps and good search is a top notch product.. Replacing it with the worthless bing and yahoo is bad a decision
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
fruitycups said:
Wirelessly posted

What is apple's provlem with google.. Yea they ripped off the ios with andriod but google maps and good search is a top notch product.. Replacing it with the worthless bing and yahoo is bad a decision
Click to expand...

You’re misinformed: they never replaced it. Google Maps and search are still on both Mac and iOS, and in fact, Google is the default. Advanced users can choose Yahoo or Bing if they want. (Unless you mean the bad decision is the people who do that—but I’m one of them, and it’s because I like to limit how much Google and Facebook track me. Spread the privacy around a little!)

(I can see a future day when Apple switches to a different map source for their app, but Google Maps will still be available even if so. And the current Maps app is half Apple anyway—that’s why it’s different from plain old Google Maps. Also, for “old-timey looking” travel-map themes in iPhoto, Apple already uses a different map source. A first sign of things to come, maybe, but it doesn’t impact any critical map usage like navigating or finding businesses.)
 
HiRez

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,250
2,576
Western US
This could be a huge move for iOS in China. It's the equivalent of "Apple adds Google search engine in U.S."...from our perspective (let's pretend iOS only had Yahoo and Bing or something before).
 
F

Flitzy

Guest
Oct 20, 2010
215
0
jonnysods said:
Wirelessly posted

Please don't use Bing!
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with Bing - in most places it's far superior to Google, especially when it comes to maps.

Honestly, I just wish Apple would do away with Google as the default - or at least do what Microsoft does with IE and allow you to choose.
 
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