Google and Yahoo! Competitor Arises in Japan

I'm thinking Google should start worrying about its services in Japan and so should Yahoo! The search engine that dominates the Chinese market has set its eyes on the neighboring country and it is determined to go the extra mile to win the battle for the advertising cash in the world's second largest economy.

Google and Yahoo hold together a 80-90% share in Japan's search market and the users over there are reported to be using more than just one search engine at a time. Baidu has announced that its initial goal is to become the second one of the two. They've already started the effort to back the push by revamping the top page (baidu.jp) and expanding its Japanese language services to include blog searches, as Reuters mentions.

The time when the battle will be underway and it will align three competitive players (and not two favorites and an outsider) was not mentioned by the Baidu Chief Executive, Robert Li, but he says that it may take a while, based on the percentages the two American companies hold together. "We will be very patient," he said.

Baidu is thinking seriously about this, as it was reported to have started talks with Japanese mobile phone carriers about partnering on mobile-based searches. By now, Yahoo and Google should have had that covered, but you never know where the proverbial rabbit might pop out of the hat. "[Baidu] will also consider entering Japan's consumer e-commerce market, which would likely involve setting up a direct sales team," Reuters quoted Jun Masuda, vice president of Baidu's local unit.

If Baidu manages to pull this one through, it will be a severe blow to Google and Yahoo in their egos and, more important, in the revenue they generate in Japan from ad placing next to the search results.