Baidu to Enter Japan's Web Search Market

From Reuters:

"Chinese Internet search leader Baidu.com said on Monday it would enter Japan's search market in 2007, prompting a 2 percent rise in its shares, but analysts questioned whether the expansion would succeed.

The company said its decision, which followed a six-month study into Japanese-language search technology, was based on a high level of Internet use in Japan and some similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages.

Baidu, which claims 60 percent of China's Web search market, did not detail its plans to enter the Japanese market, where competitors will include market leader Yahoo Japan Corp., Google Inc., and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN."