GOOGLE Inc expects mobile-phone services will help it overtake Baidu.com Inc to become China's biggest Internet search company as more people in the nation surf the Web on their handsets instead of personal computers.
The number of Chinese consumers searching for information on their mobile phones may surpass those visiting Websites on computers by 2009, Google China President Lee Kai-Fu said on Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg News in Shanghai. He declined to predict when Google will be bigger than Baidu in China.
Google offers search services for subscribers of China Mobile Ltd, the world's largest wireless carrier by users, and growth may increase when a mobile technology that allows for faster downloads is unveiled.
China is expected to issue licenses for high-speed, or so-called third-generation, networks before the Beijing Olympics next August.
"Working with China Mobile is an advantage" for Google, said Steve Weinstein, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland.