Wang Xi, founder and CEO of Easou.com, uses his company's mobile search engine on his cell phone. Easou leads the mobile search sector in China, surpassing Baidu and Google. [Photo / Provided to China Daily]

Mobile search engines expect to see explosive 60% annual growth rate

BEIJING - On mobile-search reports from IT analysis companies, this name surpasses Google and Baidu, China's biggest online search engine, and has become the dark horse of mobile search engines: Easou.com.

While big companies, such as Google, Baidu and Microsoft, were competing in the online search engine industry, Wang Xi, founder and chief executive officer of Easou.com, struck gold in the mobile search engine industry and became the biggest player within just five years. This year, he was recognized as one of Dell's "Take Your Own Path Heroes" in the United States.

Although mobile search engines currently account for only a fraction of total mobile applications, the growth rate will reach at least 60 percent next year, said Hover Xiao, a senior analyst at the market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

"My goal is to achieve 1 billion yuan ($15 million) in sales revenue in 2012 and maintain our top position in the Chinese market," said Wang at Dell's global summit in Austin, Texas.

Established in 2005 as the first mobile search engine company in China, Easou.com's market share now exceeds 35 percent of the domestic industry, followed by Baidu at 25 percent, and Google at only 5 percent, according to figures released by China Mobile Data Center earlier this year.

Easou.com currently has more than 160 million users, and aims to reach 260 million next year. Its sales revenue was 100 million yuan ($15 million) in 2010 and Wang expects it to reach 1 billion yuan in 2012.

Wang's story began in 2000. That year, he bought his first mobile phone for 4,800 yuan, the cost equivalent of a PC. While on business trips, he was always struck by the inconvenience of conducting Internet searches. So he thought it would be great if cell phones could access the Internet and easily search for information.

With this simple idea, he established his business in Shenzhen and began research and development in the mobile search engine industry. Now, when he goes abroad, he can use his BlackBerry to access the Internet and browse information on the search engine he developed.

"Just like many other people these days, I feel that I can't live without wireless devices now," Wang said. "So our business is a trend for the future."

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Unlike most other IT companies, Wang chose a promotion strategy using Chairman Mao Zedong's theory of focusing on the countryside rather than large cities.

"Despite all the investment in first-tier cities, smaller cities and rural areas still hold the majority of China's population. We knew very clearly from the beginning that our main target customers were not in first-tier cities, but second- and third-tier cities and even rural areas," he said.

Wang points out that his marketing strategy was the key to his success. "You can't expect every rural family to have a computer with Internet access, but nearly every individual in China has a cell phone," he said. "Where there is a cell phone, there is my business opportunity."

Over the past six years, Wang said small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been the key drivers of his business. "More than 85 percent of my clients are from smaller cities and rural areas." He found that SMEs in those areas have the demand to promote their products and services, but they do not have a lot of money for advertising.

Wang provided an alternative by allowing SMEs to promote their products nationwide on his mobile search engine rather than spending a lot of money on TV advertisements.

Easou has a market penetration of more than 40 cities in China, and Wang expects it to enter first-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, next year.

"The company's strategy helps it to avoid direct competition with Baidu and Google in first-tier cities," said Xiao from IDC. "But it should be concerned about its future development in first-tier cities and competition with Baidu and Google in smaller cities later on, since those companies have already started to invest in developing their own mobile search engines."