China’s Internet-search giant Baidu (BIDU)
unveiled a platform that lets users run applications including games, videos
and electronic books through the Baidu website, The Wall Street Journal
reported.
The service, which opened for business on
Wednesday evening, offers software similar to that available through websites
like Facebook, or platforms like Apple’s App Store, or the Android Market based
on Google’s mobile operating system, The Journal reported.
But unlike those, Baidu’s platform is accessible
from any device or personal computer connected to the Web and it works with any
Web browser, including Apple’s Safari, according to the Journal.
Called the Box Computing Open Platform, Baidu’s
new service represents one of the company’s most ambitious undertakings since the
company was created in 2000. Baidu has been enormously successful at its core
business, boasting a 70% share of Internet search revenue in China, and its
share price has skyrocketed, reported the Journal.
Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report
recommended BIDU in July 2009 at 32. It closed yesterday at 83.