Chinese search engine Baidu.com and mobile phone software organization Symbian Foundation are working together to expand Baidu's "box computing" concept to wireless applications.

The two parties announced a strategic initiative where they will co-establish a joint laboratory to stimulate the development and launch of wireless "box computing" tightly integrated with the Symbian platform.

Box computing refers to a Baidu initiative launched last year that envisions computers of the future being search-powered devices. A user will interact with a computer by going to a search box, entering a search term, and then receiving relevant results. By emphasizing the importance of the search box and its primacy as the interface for future computing, Baidu is hoping to add relevancy to a wireless world quickly being populated by mobile apps, rather than search services.

According to this strategic agreement, the Symbian Foundation will open the necessary platform technology interfaces for Baidu to enable wireless box computing deep within the Symbian middleware layer, facilitating the full integration of Baidu's wireless box computing into the Symbian platform. Financial details for this endeavor have not been revealed.

"Baidu has played a leading role in internet services, especially in China, and we look forward to having them share their expertise with the growing Symbian community," said Lee M. Williams, executive director of Symbian. "Additionally, we expect the integration of 'box computing' services in the Symbian platform to stimulate third-party developers worldwide to create a large body of innovative applications, leveraging Baidu's market-leading search and inquiry platform."