Baidu to offer new technology platform for mobile phones

Baidu, China's biggest internet company by market value, said it will offer a new technology platform for mobile phones as part of a plan to lure more users. The mobile platform will provide access to services such as search engine, maps and an electronic reader, Baidu said in a statement distributed in Beijing yesterday. Baidu also plans to offer cloud-computing services, including online data storage, the company said. Chief Executive Officer Robin Li, ranked China's richest man by Forbes magazine, is stepping up acquisitions and boosting spending on services such as online commerce and video to add users amid competition from Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding. Baidu's American depositary receipts fell 1 per cent to $144.29 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading on Thursday, valuing the company at $50.3 billion (Dh184 billion). The stock has gained 49 per cent this year after more than doubling in 2010, outperforming the Hong Kong-traded shares of Tencent, China's biggest online-games company, and Alibaba.com, the business-to-business unit of Alibaba Group, the country's biggest e-commerce company.