Microsoft's eye on country's search market

Software giant counts on Bing for success in tough mainland market

After narrowing its gap with search giant Google Inc in the US market, Microsoft Corp's Bing has begun to set its sights on China, where it is expected to expand its market share by marketing, enhancing local cooperation, and integrating social and mobile platforms, company officials said.

After three years of development, Bing has surpassed Google in terms of English-language searching capability, Microsoft officials said. This month, a blind test, in which users decided which search results were better, showed that more than 66 percent of users preferred Bing, according to Harry Shum, Microsoft corporate vice-president.