Your friend is on the right track as far as I can tell:
1. Create jobs, not just draw a salary
2. Most well known hi-tech campus in China (Beijing, Hangzhou, SuZhou) all have dedicated PR staff to help new companies to get media attention. From the article, your friend obviously knew to leveage it.
3. Mobile to web in 2006 is like computer to web in 1996, so the web search product your friend is pursuing is in the right domain. The timing is also good.
Best wishes to his effort and future success. Please keep us informed on how his venture goes if possible.
