Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has taken an important step into what could be its most important market in a few years. It created a partnership with China’s No.1 search company, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) which should bring both companies substantial new revenue. Bloomberg reports that Apple will make the Baidu search product available in the Chinese language on the iPad and iPhone. Apple’s Siri voice software will also begin to work in Chinese.
The two companies will split ad revenue from the arrangement. Neither has announced how that will work or what the percent share split will be. For Baidu, the plan is one more way for its to stay well ahead of rival Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in the Chinese market. For Apple, it is one more feature it can use to rapidly gain sales in the People’s Republic.
Douglas A. McIntyre
