Qihoo the Chinese Tech Co [Offers Security Solutions, Browser, App Store] which expanded into Search has managed to garner a market share of 15% in less than a year of rolling out the service. ~10% of Qihoo’s search traffic comes from the standalone so.com website, while the rest comes from its navigation page and its browser search box.
Qihoo may redirect more search traffic from its browsers, as well as from third-party union traffic partners later in 2013. In April 2013, Qihoo had a search user penetration rate of only 15%, vs. its browser user penetration of 27%, pointing to upside potential for further search penetration.
Qihoo has become one of Google’s traffic partners in China since January 2013. Qihoo’s organic advertisers had priority over Google’s advertisers. Qihoo’s search keywords are currently sold at substantial discounts compared to that of Baidu, thus
offering favorable ROI to advertisers.
Qihoo’s mobile app store, 360 Mobile Assistant, has become a leading third-party mobile app store in China with over 100mn users in Q1-2013. The strong PC-installed customer base for Qihoo has helped the proliferation of its mobile app store, 360 Mobile Assistant. When a user connects the smartphone to a PC with Qihoo security software, they will be converted as the 360 Mobile Assistant user. In general, Chinese smartphone users prefer to connect their phones to PC for app downloads, due to the relatively expensive mobile data packages.
Qihoo reported revenues of $110Mn for Q1-2013, relatively small compared to other Chinese Internet companies like Baidu, Tencent, etc. What I like the most is, Qihoo started off as a vendor for Anti-Virus / Security Solutions and later started offering Free Security Solutions, developed 360 browser, developed a Desktop App as a layer over Windows OS, then Started App Store and a year ago ventured into Search with meaningful user base in all its ventures which offer scalability. Do we get to see any such company in India ? What say ?
If Chinese can crack and Build Localized / Indian Language Solutions, they can give a run for money for other established platforms from the US operating in India. With synergies between Indian & Chinese markets, it makes sense for Chinese entrepreneurs to venture into India.