Set to take on Google.
Chinese operator China Mobile has announced a partnership with the official Chinese news agency Xinhua to launch a mobile search engine.
The new service will compete with Google, and judging by the official announcement, will be very much focused on the Chinese government's views on what mobile websites its citizens should be visiting.
"The cooperation is an important move to serve the […] party and the state, thoroughly protect the national interest, safeguard China’s information security, strengthen the establishment of a public opinion front in the new media and broaden the domestic and overseas propaganda influence and the public opinion guidance capability of the Chinese mainstream media," says Xinhua's Zhou Xisheng, quoted in the Financial Times.
Google currently has a rocky relationship with the Chinese government, due to arguments over censorship of its web search engine's results.
With smartphone usage predicted to grow sharply in China in the coming years, mobile search is set to become more significant. China Mobile and Xinhua's partnership shows that the government is determined to play a big role in the area.
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