Mobile search is becoming a new battleground for giants

Text | Sun Hongchao Xu Guoyun

Mobile search is becoming a new battleground for giants.

Following UC and Ali jointly launched Shenma, Sogou also rely on the support of Tencent released a mobile search APP. In this battle, both Yu Yong-fu or Zhang Chaoyang, have released the challenge of Baidu's "rhetoric." Challenge, so easy to achieve it? Mobile search, but also important to what extent?

Big Baidu and his friends

In the PC era, the most typical application scenario is to open the browser to enter Baidu's address to test whether the Internet. At that time, search engines were the most in need of contention access, and Internet companies that could not rely on search engine production flow were rare.

With the rise of the mobile Internet, Baidu and Google, once the cornerstones of the search industry, have rapidly become the new overlord in the field of mobile search. According to the report of "The Future of Mobile Internet" released by BusinessInsider, a foreign online media company, Google has a market share of up to 95% in mobile search. In the mobile search community in China, Baidu is the leader in statistics released by various statistical agencies , Baidu is the number one undisputed market share for many years more than 50%.

An obvious fact is that no matter how violent the subversion and reshuffle of the mobile Internet and the need to emphasize the fact that the mobile Internet is not just the mobile of the Internet, the BAT Big Three are still attacking on the mobile Internet by relying on the huge users of the PC era and the layout ahead of time While retaining their respective good business position.

However, as PC-Baidu ushered in the 360's strong challenge, in April UC Ali jointly launched Shenma, Yu Yongfu said the first quarter of 2014, Shenma search throughout China, the user penetration rate has exceeded 20%. After releasing 20% ​​of the satellite, Yu Yongfu even said in public that there was a big move waiting for Baidu.

Subsequently, May 8, Sogou rely on the support of Tencent, also launched a new strategy for mobile search. Zhang Chaoyang at the conference said that with the team's technical level, and strong support of Tencent, Baidu will begin to send the most violent mobile phone challenges. And Tencent CEO Liu Chih-ping also believes that the mobile search market is full of variables, "In the mobile age, people and information, and social networking, there are more explosive value.Teneix hope to connect people from the social platform, and then through people to connect to all valuable For the future, you can see the chemistry of social and search chemistry. "

This challenge, of course, 360. Zhou Hongyi has made it clear that soon will release 360 ​​mobile search.

In the giants, but also to search, search and other small and medium enterprises in this area Nuggets.

The awkward situation of mobile search

Giants snapped, means that mobile search has become a "super entrance" yet?

From a scale point of view, the current performance of the mobile search market does not seem bad. According to iResearch released "2014 China Mobile Internet Industry Annual Report" data show that in the past year, the scale of China Mobile Internet users reached 500 million in 2013 China's mobile Internet market size of 106.03 billion yuan, up An increase of 81.2%. It is estimated that by 2017, the market size will be close to 500 billion yuan. This rapid growth will naturally increase the number of mobile search engines. In 2013, the market size of China's mobile search market was 4.55 billion yuan, up 264.1% year-on-year. In the next few years, the mobile search market will usher in a peak growth period.

However, market perception does not match them.

In the prehistoric era of mobile Internet, mobile search has played a very important role. At that time, there were few super APPs that could have billions of users, and search engines on browsers quickly topped users' habits in the Internet age. Mobile search was an important entry point from the way of thinking at the time. Of course, more than 90% of the information on early mobile search comes from the traditional Internet. The so-called mobile search is just an extension on the PC.

However, with the gradual popularization of smartphones and the emergence of such a giant app as WeChat, various APPs have started to play a more important role. This non-web-based living model allows users to start independent of the browser. A word of mouth application is easier to find and install in a variety of app stores, without relying on a browser for searching.

This allows Yi search, easy to check, Wukong represented a group of mobile search engine into an awkward position, for a long time, mobile search is not for mobile Internet players attention, only Baidu also managed to support this industry.

Correspondingly, Baidu's business model is by no means purely mobile search. It is said that Baidu mobile income, a large part of the PC-side resources packaged.

A person in the industry believes that this is because the PC search engine is the page as the core, and for the mobile terminal users, APP is the core requirement. Data show that Android smartphone users access the search engine through the browser an average of only 1.25 times per day.

Some advertisers have also expressed their worries at different levels: Although more and more Internet users are moving from desktops to mobile devices, mobile device users use search engines less frequently than PC users, and they use more applications.

From the current situation, mobile search to become super entrance, it seems difficult is not small.

Wishful challenge, or another purpose?

Although the status quo seems not too optimistic, but the giants of the competition seems to mean that there is a huge market potential for development. However, Baidu will be easily removed from Taiwan it?

On the PC side, the 360 ​​once challenged Baidu's authority through its huge browser load, 360 almost all the company's future profits bet on the search, its market value soared to 100 billion US dollars also thanks to the 360 ​​search business launch . At present, UC mobile browser release independent mobile search platform Shenma search, as well as Sogou search hand QQ browser, mobile QQ, these practices are exactly the same with 360 search by browser.

But at the time 360 ​​was able to PC search is considered a huge pressure on Baidu, because 360 ​​browser has overwhelming share of advantages, to seize the PC Internet access, as long as the search box replaced by 360 search can easily divert Baidu. However, in the era of mobile Internet, browsers have no overwhelming advantage compared with other main entrances of mobile Internet, nor have they cultivated a wide range of user loyalty; therefore, the insiders believe that this makes it difficult for Shenma and Sogou to copy the current 360 The play.

Even take a step back, Shenma and Sogou can gain overwhelming market share, search area Baidu's brand awareness and user stickiness will be very easy for them to reach the ceiling. So it seems that the reason why the giants attack in this area, it is possible to occupy the second place after Baidu, with the same 360 ​​things on the PC.

Sohu Zhang Chaoyang said Sogou next search search will be fully settled in each product line of Tencent, including QQ, Qzone, Tencent, QQ browser and QQ site navigation, mobile QQ browser. This looks very good, but think of being swayed Sogou search search, we know that in the field of mobile search challenges Baidu but wishful thinking it.

However, after the challenge, mobile search may be expected to usher in new development; but how to go, is not clear.