In the west, search is pretty much a done deal. Even if we're using Bing, we google things.

In China, however, search - like most other aspects of the ecosystem - is a highly competitive and dynamic sector.

It didn't used to be that way, though, as Baidu - aka China's Google - was the market leader.

Partly because of the rise of mobile search, but partly for other reasons, that dominance has been slipping, with Qihoo 360, in particularly, looking to aggressively increase its market share.

Mobile drive

And according to Marbridge Consulting that's an initiative that's continuing.

It's quoting 360's president Qi Xiangdong as saying the company is looking to capture 10 percent of Chinese mobile search by the end of 2014.

It currently has around 30 percent of Chinese desktop search; a number it hopes to hit in mobile search within two years.

Of course, the reason this is important - for companies like 360 and Baidu, not to mention Tencent and Alibaba - is mobile search provides leverage in terms of app distribution, which currently is funnelled through multiple Android app stores.

[source: Marbridge Consulting]