PC Home Online forms an alliance with Google

The nation's second largest Internet portal, PC Home Online (網路家庭), and search giant Google Inc yesterday announced a strategic alliance through which PC Home will adopt Google's search technology while Google uses the opportunity to increase its market presence in Taiwan.

Core service

"Although we have been developing various businesses, such as e-commerce and an Internet telephone service, searching is a core service to us that should be constantly improved," PC Home Online chief executive officer Arthur Lee (李宏麟) told a press conference yesterday.

The deal allows users of PC Home to search more information with Google's powerful search engine, while Google, which is the world's most used portal but still has only a small base in Taiwan, can reach both users and advertisers of PC Home, Lee said.

According to a report conducted by online market research firm InsightXplorer (創市際), Yahoo-Kimo Inc (雅虎奇摩) is the nation's largest Internet portal with over 10 million visits last month, followed by PC Home with 7.6 million hits.

The company estimated that Google only sees about 2 million hits a month.

Vicky Tseng (曾薰儀), manager of PC Home's sales division, said that Google's ads will also be published in PC Home's Web pages, which are expected to double advertising revenue this year. Advertising makes up about 20 percent of PC Home's total revenue, Tseng said.

Bright future

As Google has no operations in Taiwan, PC Home will also take charge of customer service, Lee said, adding that PC Home looks forward to further cooperation with Google in the future, such as helping localize Google's tool bar and other services.

Boosted by the strategic partnership, shares of PC Home rose sharply by NT$1.95 to close at NT$41 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.