Baidu is making its boldest foray yet into mobile search by launching a low-cost smartphone that runs on the Chinese search company’s own operating system.
Baidu will hold a press conference in Beijing today to launch the smartphone, which will be priced at less than Rmb1,000 ($158) and will run Baidu Cloud, a mobile phone operating system developed by modifying Google’s Android platform. The phone will have a separate brand, Baidu said.
The move will extend Baidu’s rivalry with Google beyond search and into software through which users navigate their mobile devices. Robin Li, Baidu chief executive, told the Financial Times last year that he envisioned a Baidu-run smartphone that turned on instantly and processed much of users’ requests through a simple search box.