Dell to launch a tablet in China in deal with Baidu
DELL and China’s top search engine Baidu plan to jointly develop tablet computers and mobile phones, targeting the Chinese market dominated by Apple and Lenovo.
China is one of the fastest growing markets for tablets and is home to more than 900m mobile phone subscribers, but analysts were sceptical that the partnership would unseat Apple as the dominant force in the nascent market.
Dell declined to give a timeline for the launch of the devices, but it is understood they may be available as early as November.
Baidu launched a new mobile application platform last week and offered a glimpse of its upcoming mobile operating system, which it hopes will serve a growing number of users accessing the internet from smartphones and tablet computers.
Baidu’s Nasdaq-listed shares are up nearly 50 per cent so far this year, giving it a market value of around $50bn.