Tech in Asia points to a new report from Chinese site Sina.com claiming that Apple has reached a deal with Baidu to add the Chinese search engine as an option on its iOS browser as soon as next month.
Apparently, Baidu’s cloud and mobile chief Li Mingyuan hinted at this during the launch of Baidu’s cloud storage service last week, saying that the company already had a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Apple in China.
The implementation would give Safari users on iOS the option of setting Baidu — rather than Google — as their default search engine.
It is not clear whether Baidu would appear as the Apple-set default search engine in iOS, although it seems that many Chinese users would prefer it to Google given Baidu's 80% share of the search market in the country.
/article-new/2012/03/baidu_ios_engine.jpg?lossy)
Such a move would provide another means by which Apple could reduce its reliance on Google within in its iOS products. The company has been shifting to some non-Google mapping services and there have been occasional rumors that Apple has considered making Microsoft's Bing the default search engine for iOS.
A deal to make Baidu the default search engine for iOS in China would also be another step in Apple's efforts to increase support for Chinese users as it seeks to continue its momentum in the rapidly-growing market there. Apple earlier this month added China Telecom as its second iPhone carrier in the country, and its forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion will also include enhanced support for Chinese users including adding Baidu as a search engine option in Safari.
Top Rated Comments
Ive been using Bing increasingly, and its OK.... until I want to do a visual search for information! Such as info on a flag, an animal, a buildinganything where I know something about it but I dont know exactly what to search for. So its nice to be able to try searching for a few descriptors (duck with brown and green head canada) and then browse Images results to narrow down the thing Im after. But I'm seeking more than just an imageI want a web page with text and details, or at least the name of the thing so I can search more. Good luck on Bing! Bing on mobile will not take you to an image's original source page by any means I can discover! You get the raw image and a non-clickable listing of what the source is. I bet site owners love that just as much as I do...
OK, Im done :)
----------
Yesseems like a non-brainer Advanced setting, for iOS Safari AND desktop Safari AND iOSs system-wide search pane. Add/subtract search engines at will, including special-purpose ones like IMDB or Netflix or the docs of some software you use at work. Just add anything, and turn listed ones On and Off at will, the way you can with email accounts.
There's nothing wrong with Bing - in most places it's far superior to Google, especially when it comes to maps.
Honestly, I just wish Apple would do away with Google as the default - or at least do what Microsoft does with IE and allow you to choose.
(I can see a future day when Apple switches to a different map source for their app, but Google Maps will still be available even if so. And the current Maps app is half Apple anyway—that’s why it’s different from plain old Google Maps. Also, for “old-timey looking” travel-map themes in iPhoto, Apple already uses a different map source. A first sign of things to come, maybe, but it doesn’t impact any critical map usage like navigating or finding businesses.)
Why go anywhere else?