14 DAY TRIAL // The Chinese market seems to be the latest El-Dorado for Internet companies. After Yahoo teamed up with Alibaba.com, now is Google's turn to launch a new service.
Together with a Chinese company Mapbc, Google unveiled a beta version of a local search site that allows Chinese Web surfers to search for businesses in their local area. Beijing-based Mapabc.com provides web-based mapping services. The name of the new site is Google Bendi and is covering 170 cities
Baidu.com, which is the main rival of Google in China already offers a local search service. A report issued last week claimed that Baidu holds the largest market share in three of China's major cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Google owns 2,6% of Baidu.com
For Google, this is not the first partnership with a Chinese company. Last month Google has announced that, together with a local company, it will sell ads in China through its AdWords service. China Enterprise, a subsidiary of Sino-i Technology, was authorized by Google to sell AdWords services in China.