A little over a month after Alibaba announced a smart TV and set-top box operating system, its fierce rival Baidu has jumped into the space as it began selling smart TVs in China via its iQiyi business, as Bloomberg reports.
Baidu, which operates China’s most-used search engine and a host of other Web services, has partnered with electronics maker TCL Multimedia to sell TVs, which include content and branding from iQiyi, the Baidu-owned online video platform.
A 48-inch model is available from online retailer JD.com from today for 4,567 yuan ($746), while a second as-yet-unspecified version will go on sale for 2,999 yuan ($490) in November.
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Baidu recently upped its focus on video when it bought PPS Video for $337 million, and the company claims that PPS Video and iQiyi combined are China’s top online video platform, ahead of the merged business of Youku and Tudou.
This move into the living room represents yet another battleground for Baidu’s rivalry with Alibaba, which is already being waged on many fronts — including search — as TNW’s own Kaylene Hong outlined in this excellent editorial published last month.
Related: The politics and power struggles of the Chinese Internet superpowers
Headline image via Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images
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