UPDATE: Dell: To Sell Smartphone With Baidu Software Platform
December 19 2011 - 11:59PM
Dow Jones News
Dell Inc. (DELL) said Tuesday it would start selling a
smartphone in China using a software platform developed by Chinese
search-engine operator Baidu Inc. (BIDU).
The "Streak Pro" phone, the first to be developed using the
Baidu software, will be customized for use on the network of China
Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU), Dell said in a statement.
Baidu in September announced a software platform called Baidu
Yi, essentially a Baidu variation on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android
mobile operating system that Baidu has said would also be
compatible with other operating systems later. Baidu Yi will be
pre-installed on mobile phones so developers can more easily
integrate Baidu features on the devices.
A Dell spokeswoman said the phone will go on sale sometime
before the Chinese New Year holiday, which falls in late January
next year.
Dell didn't give pricing details for the phone.
Dell's Greater China president, Michael Yang, said the Streak
Pro phone will be sold in other markets after the version using
Baidu's software launches in China. He didn't elaborate.
Baidu Vice President Wang Jing said the company is "exploring"
how it could put Baidu Yi on Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) mobile operating
system, but has hit hurdles in talks with Apple about its
commercial terms.
An Apple spokeswoman didn't immediately reply to a request for
comment.
Baidu is also exploring putting Baidu Yi on Microsoft Corp.'s
(MSFT) Windows Phone platform and is open to considering the same
for other operating systems, he said.
Dell currently has almost no presence in the China smartphone
market.
In the third quarter, Nokia Corp. led China's smartphone market
with a 27% share of the 22 million units sold to users in the
country, followed by Samsung Electronics Co. with 19% and Huawei
Technologies Co. with 11%, according to market researcher Gartner
Inc. Apple Inc. ranked fourth with 10% and ZTE Corp. fifth with
8%.
Baidu has overtaken much of Google's share of the Chinese search
market since the U.S. company moved its China search engine to Hong
Kong early last year because of concerns about censorship and
hacking in China. Baidu had a 78.2% share of revenue in China's
online-search market in the third quarter, while Google's share was
17.2%, according to estimates by Beijing research firm Analysys
International.
-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702;
owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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