China's largest search engine, Baidu, has released a beta version of a new web browser, which features applications that connect users to online games, videos and other tools.

The v1.2 Beta release of the browser has a simple interface and it inegrates thousands of popular applications into a "treasure house", which functions like an app store.The browsers has also a "Safe Browsing" mode that combines the advantages of the sandbox technology advantages and Internet Explorer's Protected mode, to create a safe browsing environment. Of course, the browser is also offering an address bar with a search field powered by the Baidu search engine.

Baidu currently has 75.9 percent share of Internet search engine revenues, with Google a distant second according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer has long dominated China's Web browser market. But in recent months Internet Explorer has fallen in popularity, down to 62.9 percent from the 83.3 percent it held in February, according to CNZZ.com, an analytical Web research site.