Google might be firing at all cylinders when it comes to gargantuan search shares. But in China, the search giant has some problems, losing out to the dominant local engine, Baidu. The figures state that Google’s search share fell from its previous 71.1 percent to 69.7 percent [source], a huge plunge given that the duration for that drop was only three months.
All that affect has primarily come due to its failure to get a grip in China, a massive Internet market, which if summed up, hasn’t been successfully tapped by anyone from the West. Google, is no exception. In my opinion, the search market, or any other as a matter of fact is on the verge or has reached saturation and 71.1 percent was the maximum Google would have reached. However the much newer and rapidly expanding Asian markets are still untapped and the Silicon Valley is finding it nearly impossible to penetrate these. At least China for sure, of course the country has a huge firewall all around it which ensures that the only thing that gets through is what the ruling body thinks should otherwise there is a huge Block ready to keep you out.
Baidu currently holds 4.6 percent in the global search market, which is just shy of Microsoft with 4.8 percent and Yahoo with 5.6 percent.
Of course Google is still the most popular search destination for anyone online,but its recent tactics to deal with the strict censorship in China have to a large extent backfired. That included the termination of Google.cn earlier this year as well as threatening to pull out of China. If I were Google, I wouldn’t do that for the huge market it is. Lets say if only half of the 1.3 billion people in China have access online in the next couple of years and all they have is Baidu, I bet Google’s dominant position would be challenged big time.
Well it will at least be zeroed out in China for all times to come.
