Baidu Unveils Light App Distribution Platform
Sina Tech, 8/22/13
Chinese internet giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) announced the company's new "Light App" distribution model today at its annual Baidu World conference in Beijing, as well as an accompanying Light App developer platform (developer.baidu.com/lightapp) that will provide technical support for Light App developers. Baidu's Light App platform is designed to provide download-free mobile app-style services embedded within Baidu mobile search results.
The Light App platform offers mobile app-style functionality, allowing users to access a number of features, including voice, video, and positioning features, from within the Baidu mobile search app or from mobile browsers using Baidu's mobile site. The Light App platform supports user-directed subscriptions, and can also send push notifications. Baidu VP Li Mingyuan noted that Light App features have been released in the latest version of the Baidu mobile search app, featuring over ten light apps including services from mobile taxi-booking app "Didi Dache" and Chinese tech site 36Kr. Light apps will be extended to other Baidu mobile platforms in the future, including Baidu Maps, Baidu Browser, and online web directory Hao123.
Robin Li, Baidu founder and CEO, has stated that over 700,000 developers are already using Baidu's mobile app developer platform, and daily mobile app downloads from Baidu mobile app stores (including Baidu Mobile Assistant and 91 Assistant) have crossed 69 mln. 70% of app downloads originate from 0.1% of mobile apps hosted on Baidu platforms, creating a long-tail dilemma for the other 99.9% of apps. Li emphasized that Baidu mobile search, which has seen 16-fold growth since 2010, can provide a solution for these developers in tandem with the company's Light App services.
Among Baidu mobile searches, health and medicine-related searches account for tens of millions of mobile searches daily on Baidu, with homemaking, travel, and other lifestyle mobile searches in the millions each day.
Editor's Note: Taking mobile taxi-hailing application Didi Dache as an example, Baidu's Light App platform allows users to conduct a mobile search for "hail a cab," yielding a link to Didi Dache's light app at the top of the results, which the user can use immediately, without any need to download or install the app. Another advantage of the light app format is that instead of being searchable only by the name of the app, it is also searchable by any of the content within the app.
Keywords: downloads Li Mingyuan Robin Li Baidu World wireless Baidu mobile search BIDU app developer mobile application Baidu Light App
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