Rumor: Baidu to Launch Independent Mobile Literature Brand
National Business Daily, 1/09/14
According to an industry insider, Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is preparing to establish an independent "Baidu Literature" brand, a subsidiary of the company's mobile cloud business division. The first product released under the brand will be a mobile literature distribution platform, to be formally launched this week. According to the source, Baidu Literature is similar to mobile reading bases operated by China's major telcos, acting as a content aggregation and distribution platform as opposed to a content creator. The first group of literature websites included on the platform will be Baidu's recently acquired online literature site Zongheng.com, as well as other third-party sites. Baidu will continue to incorporate more literature sites into the platform going forward.
A Baidu representative has denied the upcoming launch of the platform, stating that Baidu's future plans in the mobile literature space only include further mobile literature search optimization.
At present, Baidu's literature-related properties include mobile reading app 91 PandaReader, Android-based mobile reading app Duoku Shucheng, document-sharing platform Baidu Wenku (PC), and online literature site Zongheng.com. Baidu also attracts authors through its "Baijia" (baijia.baidu.com) professional blogger platform.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Perfect World Confirms Baidu Acquisition of 'Zongheng' Literature Site" MD 12/27/13 issue and "Baidu Launches Professional Blogger Platform" MD 12/15/13 issue.
Keywords: mobile literature wireless Baidu Zongheng Baidu Literature online literature
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