Netease (网易), mostly known for its popular web portal 163.com, has launched a new search engine, yodao.com. The NYSE-listed company said that it has taken 100 technicians and over a two and half years period to create the new search engine. The objective is to become the No1 search engine in China within a five years period, which is rather optimistic to say the least, considering that Baidu seems to have locked the top position for many years now, with Google trailing at the second place with less than a quarter of the market.
Netease has had a partnership with Google before, with Google being the search engine used on its portal. Now Yodao search bar has been prominently placed near the top of 163.com.
Considering the reach of 163.com and the company’s other internet properties, the new search engine should be in the China top 10 search engines right from the beginning, and has a shot to make the top 5 with proper development and promotion. China is bound to become the largest internet market in a near future, and there is definitely a room for new search engines. But it would be extremely surprising to see yodao.com threatens Google China at the No2 spot or even come close to Baidu any time soon, the two companies being more focused on search and having plenty of resources and years of expertise ahead of the newcomer.
