Search engine banks on global input services demand
Chinese search engine Sogou Inc is pinning its hopes of industry success on its input method for typing Chinese characters, said Sogou's CEO Wang Xiaochuan after the company released its first financial results since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in November.
Input methods use various keyboard stokes to select characters or symbols that are not on the users' physical devices. Wang pledged to attach greater importance to turning that fundamental tool into a source of wealth in itself, instead of relying solely on the search process.
A report from Chinese big data service provider Jiguang said Sogou's input method attracted 151.8 million daily active users last December, growing 28.8 percent on a yearly basis. That puts it behind Tencent's social apps WeChat and QQ, as well as Alibaba's e-commerce app Taobao and payment tool Alipay.
