Chinese search engine market to reach $278 mln in 2005

Chinese market for online service hit 1.25 bln yuan ($151 mln) in 2004, rising 81% from 2003, according to People's Daily and spotted first by the SearchEngineWatch.com blog. The market for online searching engine in China would reach 2.3 bln yuan ($278 mln) in 2005, and might rocket to 5.62 bln yuan ($680 mln) by 2007. A total of 50 mln Internet users in China used the online searching service every day in 2004, and in December there were 188.4 mln clicks for online searches.