From the new marketing materials we have received, Baidu has raised the initial advertising budget for new accounts from RMB3,000 to RMB5,000. The “consulting” fee remains the same, RMB600. New advertisers therefore are required to pay RMB5,600 (about USD824) upfront to set up a new pay-per-click account.
As a comparison Google account opening fee stands at [...]

After months of preparation and beta testing, Baidu has finally launched its instant messaging system, Baidu Hi.
I have downloaded and installed the program, which is still labelled beta 2.The interface is blueish and clean, and to use it one need to register for a Baidu passport (or use previous access details if one is using [...]

Accoкомпютри втора употребаmebelirding to multiple reports, Google has set up a five years plan to gain supremacy in the search engine industry. To do so, it will need to win market share against the old rival, Baidu.com. In the short term, Google will invest in social networking sites and companies in China, while expanding on [...]

Well, at least according to an independent Japanese research firm (Video Search). According to their report, Baidu is now ranked fourth, trailing Yahoo Softbank (market leader), Google and MSN.
Personally, for a number of reasons, I don’t really expect Baidu to do that well in Japan, at least not that fast. I will be posting more [...]

I just tried to visit Baidu Japan site (www.baidu.jp) but it was not reachable. I was able however to get to it through a proxy site. Is Baidu Japan blocked in China or just a network glitch? I will try to connect to it from office and post updates here.

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Baidu has announced that it will implement measures for assisting Japanese advertisers to place ads on its PPC network.
Through the help of its Japanese unit, Japanese advertisers and ad agencies will receive advanced sales support, including translation of ad copy into Chinese and paying locally in Yens for their ad campaigns. So far, the only [...]