It looks like Baidu are well on their way to implementing the Mobile strategy they set out a couple of months ago.

The latest in the Chinese search-market battle between Baidu and Google, is Baidu’s announcement yesterday that they are launching a number of mobile applications with a local carrier. This move is quicker than anticipated and highlights the growing battle between the two entities. According to this news from PCWorld:

Baidu services including its Internet search, free music download search, and message forum will all be pre-installed on 3G handsets from China Unicom, Baidu said Monday. Baidu will also provide search capabilities for mobile Internet Web sites run by the carrier.

What’s probably most interesting about this, is that China Unicom also happens to be the carrier that is about to launch the iPhone in China. Does this mean Baidu apps will be pre-installed on the iPhone?

Considering the animosity between Apple and Google seems to be growing over Google Voice, Android and Map applications…. perhaps Apple would welcome the chance to shun Google in such a large consumer market?