Why Google When You Can Baidu?

Diners often plunge their chopsticks into shared entrees at even the most upscale restaurants here. This mouth-to-plate maneuver might be considered a faux pas in the germphobic West, akin to George double-dipping a chip in "Seinfeld."

But appreciating such cultural differences is what Baidu.com Inc.'s chief financial officer, Shawn Wang, says gives the Chinese search giant unique insight into the country's 1.3 billion people as it competes with American rivals such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

That knowledge informs innovations large and small, such as Baidu's bowing to local preference in popping up a new browser window when users click on search results. It can also produce features, such as its MP3 search for digital music downloads, that infuriate the entertainment industry.

Read entire article here.

Comments

[Wiredwilly]

02:05 PM on 12/11/2007

Why do either. There are other search engines far less commercial and far more relevant to the search. Google list topics in terms of popularity, not relevance.
Google is too Corporate & the Chinese are too totalitarian.
Try Kool Torch. Has its flaws, but very hip.

[Stucco]

02:18 PM on 12/10/2007

Why Google when I can Baidu? How about because I might want to read about Tiananmen square? Although maybe if I wanted to read about waterboarding, Baidu might be useful.

[outwestore]

10:05 AM on 12/10/2007

of course it helps if the great china firewall
shunts outside requests your way and blocks others to information the government dislikes.