Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has launched an SMS-based mobile phone search service in China, according to the Shanghai Daily. Users send keywords vis SMS to receive information on stocks, weather, train times, foreign currency rates and language translation. The service is free for now; users pay only for the SMS fee to carriers. Several China-based firms already offer the service—or a similar one—including mInfo, Chongqing Yicha, Uucun and Cgogo. China’s mobile search market has been a flurry of activity. Last week, mInfo announced a partnership with Medio, a Seattle-based firm that creates white label mobile search sites for operators to expand mInfo’s functionality in China. Baidu, (NSDQ: BIDU) China’s largest Internet search engine, also announced it was working with China Mobile and China Netcom Group in preparation for the launch of 3G services in China, though some reports already put Google ahead of its homegrown competitor.

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