Yahoo will launch the Chinese version of Flickr

Yahoo plans to launch the Chinese version of its popular photo-sharing service, Flickr.com .

Yahoo is going to localize and develop the most interesting services for users, such as the del.icio.us social bookmarking service , Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Groups .

“The Hong Kong Flickr interface in traditional Chinese will be available later this year,” Pauline Wong , a spokeswoman for Yahoo’s Hong Kong branch , told Reuters via e-mail .

“The new site will be targeted at Hong Kong users and will offer all the same features now available in the English version,” says Paulina.

Although traditional Chinese is widely used only in Hong Kong and Taiwan, simplified Chinese is the standard in mainland China. However, most Chinese from the "mainland" know traditional Chinese. The converse is also true.

Wong also said that after Flickr enters the Hong Kong market, Yahoo will focus on the Taiwan market, but Paulina said nothing about mainland China.

Despite Beijing censoring the Internet, Flickr, which was banned in the United Arab Emirates, continues to operate in China, the second largest online market with 137 million Internet users (the United States is in first place).

In 2006, according to iResearch, Yahoo occupied 9% of the social photo hosting market in China. For several years, Yahoo plans to add 10 million users annually.