Baidu Takes Qihoo Battle to Customers 百度要求代理商切断与奇虎360关系
The blossoming war between Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and challenger Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is becoming more colorful each day, with Baidu resorting to some interesting new tactics to defend its market dominance. In the latest wrinkle of this fast-developing story, Baidu appears to be asking many of its corporate clients to cut their ties to Qihoo, in what is looking like an increasingly dirty war where either side will do anything to attack the other.
In fact, Qihoo has practiced this kind of dirty warfare for quite a while and is a master at the art, even as Baidu and most of China’s other Internet leaders usually behave more professionally. The fact that Baidu appears to be stooping to Qihoo’s level could mean that China’s leading search engine is genuinely worried about this new assault, which could quickly become one of the first serious threats in years to its dominance in the search space.
Let’s have a look at the latest news bits in this latest Internet war, with Chinese media reporting that Baidu is asking its various business partners, including the many agents that sell its advertising and other products, to stop using all Qihoo products. (Chinese article) Baidu is citing privacy concerns as the reason behind its request, and indeed such concerns could be valid since Qihoo products are famous for their invasive nature. Still, the timing of this particular request seems too coincidental to be unrelated to the growing feud between the 2 companies.
In a separate report, media are also saying that 4 of China’s top securities brokerages are telling their workers not to use Qihoo products, again citing privacy issues. (English article) There’s no mention of Baidu in the reports, which say GF Securities, Sealand Securities, Guosen Securities, and Haitong Securities have all issued memos ordering their employees to remove any Qihoo products from their computers. But the timing of this development looks suspiciously like Baidu may have been working behind the scenes to engineer a move that will not only hurt Qihoo’s business but also undermine its credibility and cast a spotlight on the security risks that Qihoo’s products pose.
Of course the big irony in all this is that Qihoo rose to prominence by giving away free security software, luring many Chinese to install its products on their computers even though those same products themselves reportedly pose numerous privacy risks.
This new war between Baidu and Qihoo began a couple of weeks ago, when Qihoo launched its own online search site in a bid to break Baidu’s grip on the lucrative market. In what I considered a smart tactical move, Qihoo’s product not only included its own search results but also consolidated results from other major engines like Baidu into a single product. (previous post) Baidu said at the time that it was looking into the legality of Qihoo’s move, but I suspect it will find that Qihoo’s tactic doesn’t break any laws.
Baidu’s latest tactics will certainly put some pressure on Qihoo, but I doubt they will force Qihoo to abandon its new search offensive. In the end, the 2 sides will probably have to find some kind of compromise that will probably be determined by the market and technology issues rather than any direct talks. In the meantime, look for more colorful new offensives and counter-attacks in this latest war, and for the very real possibility that Qihoo could quickly rise as an important new challenger to Baidu’s dominance in the search space.
Bottom line: The blossoming search wars between Baidu and Qihoo are likely to continue for a few more months, with Qihoo potentially emerging as a major new force in the market.
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