Chinese Internet company Qihoo 360 formally launched the beta version of its photo search service, a sub-product of its So.com search site, in China.
Photo search has been an important service for search engines. Since Qihoo 360 launched its search engine product So.com, the company has provided various services such as a map, movie and TV search. The launch of the photo search is another move to meet the evolving demands of Chinese Internet users.
According to the company, Qihoo 360's photo search service features no advertising. The company also revealed that more vertical search services will be launched in the near future.
Qihoo 360's comprehensive search service was launched on August 16, 2012. Statistics provided by the third-party testing organization Hitwise showed that Qihoo 360's search service already gained 10% market share in the Chinese search service market six days after its launch.
However, the company's search function is still weak. It currently only provides searches of web pages, news, music, maps, and videos, which is far from enough to meet the diversified demands of users who also crave searches for software and local searches.