China Internet Watch

China mobile map app market overview 2017

CIW Team — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 03:00:22 +0000

China mobile maps app users reached 644 million as of December 2017, led by Gaode Maps (AutoNavi) and Baidu Maps according to data from Jiguang. Gaode's daily active users exceeded 40 million; its MAU exceeded 340 million in December 2017.

Gaode Maps mobile app rose to the top 10 mobile apps by penetration rate in 2017 according to Jiguang.

The number of mobile maps app users grew to 644 million from 553 million in June 2017.

52.4% mobile map app users are male; 49.2% are between 26 and 35 years-old, 34.4% between 16-25 years-old....

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Top Mobile Map Apps in China in Q2 2014

CIW Team — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00:44 +0000

Baidu Map, Gaode Map and Google Map are the top 3 mobile map apps by total number of reached users, according to EnfoDesk.

In terms of total number of app launch frequency and usage time, Baidu also dominates.

According to another Chinese research company iResearch’s first quarter data, Google Maps beat Gaode Maps in usage time in Q1 2014.

Baidu has integrated its mobile payment solution Baidu Wallet in its Maps app and it’s interesting to see how Baidu will utilize the popularity of Baidu Maps to get more mobile shopping market share.

China Mobile Maps Market Overview

CIW Team — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:43:29 +0000

The top three mobile maps in China are Baidu Maps, Baidu Navigation and Google Maps, according to a survey conducted by Chinese research company iResearch.

The same survey revealed the top three applications of mobile maps are: looking for directions, route navigation, and searching for unknown locations.

The top map brand is Baidu Maps, followed by Gaode Maps and Google Maps. Gaode reached an agreement with Alibaba this April and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba.

Baidu’s Competition With AutoNavi Led to Free Navigation

CIW Team — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 13:20:21 +0000

Baidu announced on August 28, 2013 that Baidu Mobile Navigation would be free hereafter. Merely four hours later, AutoNavi, a leading map and navigation Chinese company, responded with free navigation service promptly. The war over mobile navigation market accelerated immediately.

Free is a sharp weapon to break original market structure and win market dominance. Baidu free navigation service would not only bring down B2C navigation enterprises, but also shake professional navigation market. It will affect vehicle networking in the long run.

Baidu Expands Navigation Market, AutoNavi Defends Passively

Baidu has been progressive and made a few moves on expanding mobile market in the recent, including buying 91 wireless. Baidu equals with AutoNavi in mobile map market, but AutoNavi has dominance in navigation market. Baidu just launched Baidu Navigation last year. Free navigation would infect AutoNavi in a degree, it will lose a lot of income from Navigation service. Baidu’s sacrifice is relatively small, and it can win market share fast in the short term.

Professional Navigation Might be Harmed

Navigation is a professional software which is sold together with auto navigation hardware. Due to high development cost, its business model mainly is B2B. AutoNavi was the first to offer mobile navigation app. But AutoNavi remained the service fee charging business model. This time, Baidu and AutoNavi free navigation will end the major business model of navigation manufacturers.

For professional manufacturers, if they don’t offer free apps on Android and iOS, they will suffer the loss of users. They could no longer make money from selling software. B2B market will also be affected.

Free Navigation Means the Change from Tool App to Entrance and Vehicle Networking

As a tool app, software service fee is a reasonable business model. As a free navigation service, it must make money in a different way. Baidu and AutoNavi both announced free navigation service showed navigation might become the entrance to vehicle networking. For navigation manufacturers, they are going to face several changes:

Navigation companies have to rely on big company due to less and less income from navigation service.
Big companies would add other apps into navigation. Nuomi, a group buy website purchased by Baidu, and LBS are the advantages of Baidu. AutoNavi is supported by Alibaba. Navigation competition might turn into an open platform competition.
Baidu and AutoNavi will compete with vehicle networking companies.

Baidu SERP Integrates Baidu Maps Listing

Incitez China — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:31:19 +0000

Baidu SERPs Integrate Baidu Maps Listings

Baidu has recently integrated its Maps listings into search results pages, just like what Google has been doing.

It’s time to re-evaluate your Baidu SEO strategy.

Baidu Maps Introduced Hotel Query & Reservation Feature

Incitez China — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:17:29 +0000

Baidu Maps Hotel Search

In partnership with Qunar, Kuxun.cn, and DaoDao.com, Baidu Maps has introduced a Hotel Query and Reservation feature that integrates comprehensive hotel information into its Maps platform, streamlining the process of finding the right spot.

Users can either select hotels within the “Vicinity Search” function to launch a hotel search, which locates relevant results within your defined geographic parameters, or click on hotels in the box on the right-hand side.

The hotel menu that appears allows Baidu Maps users to search and sort based on five categories: the default setting, price, good reviews, star rankings, and sanitation reviews.

After clicking on a hotel’s corresponding map icon, the user can either bookmark the hotel or make an online booking on its partner sites.