百度地圖叫板谷歌:將服務擴大至全世界

Search engine giant Baidu Inc is expanding its mapping services beyond China, to tap into the growing demand from Chinese tourists traveling overseas.

搜索引擎巨頭百度公司正將其地圖服務業務拓至中國本土以外，這樣做是爲了從日益增長的中國遊客出國旅遊需求中發掘機遇。

A spokesperson for the company said it had launched the desktop and Mobile mapping service in Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore, in the hope of luring Chinese travelers away from using Google Inc's mapping function.

一位公司的發言人表示，百度已在日本、泰國、韓國和新加坡發佈了臺式電腦版和手機版地圖服務，希望藉此吸引中國遊客放棄使用谷歌地圖服務。

"Those four countries are receiving more Chinese tourists every year, so it makes a lot of sense for us to expand our service there," the spokesperson said.

該發言人說道：“這四個國家逐年接待越來越多的中國遊客，因此對我們來說，擴大我們的服務範圍是非常合理的”

The expanded Baidu service will allow tourists to plan the most appropriate routes, and more services are expected to be added such as navigation and booking local restaurants.

擴大版本的百度地圖可爲遊客規劃出最佳路線，今後還將增加導航、預定當地餐廳等更多服務。

Zhang Xu, an analyst from Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International, is confident Baidu will manage to poach Chinese users from Google.

總部位於北京的互聯網諮詢公司易觀國際的分析師張旭對百度會設法從谷歌地圖手中搶走中國用戶很有信心。

"Most mainland tourists have been using Baidu Map for a while when they are at home. Once the service becomes available in foreign countries, it will become their top choice, as the Chinese-language version will hold great appeal to those who can't speak English," he said.

他說道：“在國內的時候，大部分大陸游客已經使用百度地圖有一段時間了。當該服務在國外城市也能使用的時候，這會成爲遊客們的首選。因爲中文版本的軟件對那些不會說英語的人很有吸引力。”

Baidu currently holds a 70 percent share of China's mapping service market, with 300 million monthly active users. "But it still has a lot of homework to do to compete with Google in the global market, especially in terms of the accuracy of its maps," Zhang said.

百度公司目前佔有中國地圖服務市場70%的份額，擁有3億月度活躍用戶。張旭說道：“但是在全球市場與谷歌公司競爭，尤其是在地圖的準確性方面，百度還有很長的路要走。”