It is rather interesting to see Google following the acts of Baidu in China as if Google is the Yahoo/MSN within the US. Google cannot seem to get out there in front and actually do anything new without either changing Google’s MO, copying Sohu, or just being late to the market (eg: Google had no Chinese name in 2005).

So now Google has finally decided to take aim at Baidu:

Now, Google is preparing a counterstrike, according to people close to the situation. The U.S. search giant is in the late planning stages of a joint venture with a Chinese online music company that would permit it to provide free — licensed — music downloads in China.

The service, which is likely to offer access to tunes from three global music companies as well as dozens of smaller players, could start in the next several weeks barring any last-minute hiccups. The music pact marks a turning point in Google’s battle with Baidu to gain dominance in an Internet market that is soon expected to surpass the U.S. this year in number of users.

Baidu has proved a brash adversary for the much larger Google, leveraging its status as hometown champion in China to beat the U.S. Internet giant at its own game. From the start, Baidu has boasted that its knowledge of China and the Chinese language would give it a natural advantage over foreign rivals.

 Of course, figuring out how to show music to people without 1) pissing off the labels, and 2) giving away music for free (otherwise why would they abandon Baidu?) should be an interesting challenge with talk about it possibly being supported through some kind of ads.

 Beyond music though on Google vs. Baidu,

For some background on the importance of music search to Baidu historically, the China Online Search Marketing Survey Report (PDF) in 2005 found that more people were searching at Google for web results, reference info, shopping and business material that at Baidu. Baidu’s big search area was downloadable music. Similarly, a Keynote study in 2006 found that Google beat Baidu in many customer satisfaction areas, including general search quality, image search quality and news search quality. But it was Baidu that ranked tops for music search quality.

I personally think its due to Google’s late entry and China’s strong nationalism that has been a limiting factor for Google–and poor localization within China is not helping matters when they are using it as a last resort.