Baidu replaces Bing as Microsoft's default search engine in China

Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc has struck a deal with Microsoft Corp to make Baidu.com the default home page and search engine for the US behemoth's Edge browser in China. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc has struck a deal with Microsoft Corp to make Baidu.com the default home page and search engine for the US behemoth's Edge browser in China, the companies announced in Seattle on Wednesday.

Baidu.com, which has more than 600 million active users, will in return bring its search, video, cloud, and map apps to Microsoft's Windows 10 software.

The partnership is set to make it easier for Baidu.com users to update to Windows 10 and help the US company gain more users for its new operating system.

Windows 10 is innovative, user-friendly and very promising in China, said Baidu's president Zhang Yaqin, adding that he was glad to partner with Microsoft and jointly make it easier and more effective to obtain Web information for customers while using and upgrading Windows 10.

The operating system was launched globally in July.

Microsoft said it isn't giving up on its own search engine, Bing, in China but with a negligible market share in the country it makes sense to play down Bing to promote its more popular Windows software, the Wall Street Journal quoted Danny Sullivan, founding editor of website Search Engine Land, as saying.

The newspaper cited the China Internet Network Information Center, saying more than 92 percent of Internet users in China have used Baidu for searching, while less than 2 percent use Bing.