Google Might Be Returning to China

Google might be returning to China, after a five-year absence, due to disagreements between the giant technology company and the Chinese government. It’s been widely known that China is the second-largest economy worldwide, so this might be a smart move coming from Google Inc.

It seems that starting this fall Google intends to distribute a version of its Google Play app store for licensed Android devices and smartphones, whereas it hopes to gain approval to do this for Chinese customers. Google has been working on the development of Google Play for China for about one year in advance.

This September, Google also wants to make available its Android Wear software to Chinese clients. The software runs with smartwatches accordingly, for instance. However, Google needs firm approval and licenses coming from the Chinese government. This is still an uncertain matter, nevertheless.

A newly released report said that Google would block apps on Google Play that the Chinese government disapproves of. Therefore, the tech giant agrees and intends to abide Chinese laws.

Five years earlier the Google Search engine was shut down by the company, whereas China had also been accused of conducting cyberattacks against it. It seems that these cyberattacks were aimed at Gmail users, whereas Google, back then, had taken a hard stance against China’s censorship policies. Also in 2010, some of Google’s operations were moved to Hong Kong. Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, was a truly outspoken critic regarding China’s laws five years ago.

Moreover, in 2014, Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said that Google Inc. was

“committed to serving the [Chinese] market the best we can.”

Thus, the fact that Google wants to create specific software for China would allow the company to gain control over Android devices over there. A new Google Play version would help the Android market to perhaps gain supremacy over local app stores, such as Xiaomi, Baidu and Tencent. Moreover, Google’s primary rival in China is Apple Inc., which represents a leading player over there.

Google had been disagreeing with China’s censorship, so now it might be subject to controversy and debate involving its recent capitulation to the Chinese government.

Photo Credits chinahearsay.com