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Baidu mobile browser to enter African market
By Guo Yiming (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2013-01-23

Baidu and Orange, the largest mobile operator in France, reached a cooperation agreement on Jan 14. According to the agreement, Android-based mobile devices sold by Orange in the African market will be pre-loaded with Baidu mobile browsers.

At present, telecom services in many parts of Africa are run by Western operators like Orange (France) and Vodafone (UK). The unprecedented cooperation will enable Orange to pre-load Baidu mobile browsers in low-end smart phones.

The program will be first introduced in Egypt. Egypt is reported to have doubled its Android users in the second half of 2012. The country's need for network data services has likewise increased.

Baidu's mobile browser, loaded with HTML5 protocol and JavaScript engine, was released in September 2012. Given the poor network infrastructure in Africa, the new version was designed with special codes to compress network traffic and increase browsing speed. Moreover, users can also visit Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and other popular websites via bookmarks.

Before Baidu's Android browser, UCweb had long dominated China's mobile browser market. In 2012, Baidu set up an R&D center in Singapore and has been expanding its overseas market ever since. It was also reported that Baidu has invested significantly in developing Chinese and other language-based services with its focus on the Arabic market.

The Baidu-Orange browser was designed for the Orange platform, said Xavier Perret, vice-president for Orange's strategic cooperation and business development. He said the two companies value user experience more than profits.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai

 

Zhang Yiping

Director of the Minor Enterprise Service Center of the BMDRC

 

Yu Jun

President of Zhongguancun Development Group

 

Yu Yang

President and CEO of Analysys International

 
 

Zhongguancun Science Park