Angry birds maker in talks with Baidu

Rovio Entertainment, creator of the Angry Birds mobile-phone game, said it's in talks with Chinese companies including Baidu Inc. and Sohu.com Inc. to work on winning players in the world's biggest web market. The discussions involve possible new methods of Internet distribution in China, Henri Holm, senior vice-president at Rovio Asia, said in an interview on Thursday in Hong Kong, where he is based. The Finnish company is also in similar talks with Renren Inc., after starting work with Tencent Holdings Ltd., Sina Corp., Youku Inc. and Qihoo 360 Technology Co., he said. Rovio has recorded more than 100 million downloads for the Angry Birds game in China, helped by demand from users of phones running Google Inc.'s Android operating system, and Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad devices. China's biggest internet companies such as Baidu and Tencent are adding wireless services to diversify from businesses focused on personal-computer users. "The number of smart devices is growing exponentially" in China, said Holm, a former executive at mobile-phone maker Nokia. Downloads of the game will increase "dramatically" in the Asian nation this year, he said, declining to provide a forecast. From gulfnews