Fearful of losing their jobs, a number of Google employees left the US search giant to join rival Baidu during Google’s brief mini-war with the Chinese government. Recent rumors suggest that the talents of these ex-Google employees are being tapped by Baidu as it begins to develop its own mobile OS. Details are scarce but the mobile OS project is thought to be an open source venture that will compete directly with Google’s Android OS for the lucrative mobile search market. Though Baidu commands 70% of the overall search market in China, its mobile search market share hovers around 26% , a level that is equal to Google. With a decidedly hometown advantage, Baidu may be looking to use its mobile OS to swing the pendulum in its favor and stem the tidal wave of success that Google’s Android OS is currently riding.
