Want... US tech giant Microsoft announced on Sept. 24 a partnership with Chinese search engine Baidu which will see Baidu set as the default search engine and home page for internet users in China who are using Microsoft's Edge browser, our Chinese-language sister paper China Times reports.
The deal came after Chinese president Xi Jinping's meeting with US tech business leaders in Seattle on Sept. 23. Under the deal, Baidu will help boost the number of Windows users upgrading to the latest version of the operating system by providing a "Windows 10 Express" install option for its 600 million active users.
Although Microsoft has stated that it won't give up its own search engine Bing, the promotion of more popular Windows software has taken priority, market analysts said.
The company is also working with leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, providing its Azure cloud platform as the storage base for Xiaomi's cloud service, which is a stable and synchronized data system, said Ralph Haupter, president and CEO of Microsoft's Greater China region operations.
In addition to Baidu and Xiaomi, Microsoft has also partnered up with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) to extend the services of Windows' operating systems for specialized fields in China's government institutions, as well as providing custom tech infrastructure for state-owned enterprises.