Baidu launches 1st cross-platform app store

Baidu Inc, the biggest online search engine in China, said on Thursday it has launched the nation's first cross-platform application store.

The store is available for mobile devices running Windows or Android systems, said Liu Zongkai, head of Baidu's app distribution unit. Liu reiterated Baidu will carefully examine all the apps for viruses and malware before putting them online.

The Beijing-based company owns the country's biggest app store in terms of daily downloads.

The company handles 80 million mobile app downloads each day, taking more than 40 percent of market share as of September.

The United States chipmaker Intel Corp will help the Chinese company to optimize apps installed on X86-based devices.

Baidu said it will beef up its mobile Internet arm the next year. It plans to build a stronger app distribution network to diversify income source.

More than 90 percent of Baidu's earnings came from online advertising sales.

Android, developed by Google Inc, is the most used operating system in China. The Android market share nears 60 percent in the third quarter, according to industry researcher Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.