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Google vs. China — Who's Got the Most To Lose?
Barence writes "Google looks set to pull out of China, but who will suffer most? The search engine or China? At last week's South by Southwest conference, Kaiser Kuo, a former director of digital strategy for the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency in China, gave an illuminating talk that examined the history of Google and other Western internet firms in China, their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the likely outcomes of the current stalemate. Kuo explained that Google had earned the respect of the tech-savvy urban elite by protecting users, making censorship clear and by protecting its employees in China. That means Google is walking away from a 35% market share, which contains a far wealthier demographic than local provider Baidu. The Government, meanwhile, which has been very pro-competition, is about to hand a complete monopoly to Baidu, harm its international standing and the development of net technologies in the country. Is it a lose-lose situation?"
Link now up, although still a little light on details at the moment, expect updates soon.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
Google is now redirecting to uncensored results via Google.hk, and they have a page showing what services China is blocking so they can track it in a transparent way. Take a look: http://www.google.com/prc/report.html#hl=en
Google just posted to their blog what they're doing.
They're redirecting all their users to http://google.com.hk/ and are maintaining a China service availability page to update on the status of their services in mainland China.
They also plan on maintaining their presence in China for sales and development, though they say that sales will be dependent on whether the .hk page is blocked.
That number sounds about right.. just google it.
Second result in google from over a year ago breaking 30%
~Mekkah
...I see this article which says Google is attempting a sort of compromise.
Google Inc. will shift its search engine for China off the mainland but won't shut it down altogether, and it will maintain other operations in the country. It's an attempt to balance its stance against censorship with its desire to profit from an explosively growing Internet market.
On Monday afternoon, visitors to Google.cn were being redirected to Google's Chinese-language service based in Hong Kong. The page said, according to a Google translation, "Welcome to Google Search in China's new home."
Google's attempt at a compromise could resolve a 2 1/2-month impasse pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against the government of the world's most populous country.
Mu?
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
Even when that populated country isn't infected with a consumerist "I like to buy stuff" mentality? (They're not quite there yet, but signs point in that direction, at least in the major metropolitan areas)
I often wonder how much google really stands to benefit. They don't make money by making information accessible and easy to find; they depend on advertising. If people aren't buying things or advertising online, how does Google make their money?
With over 1.3 billion people, even a small percentage is significant. If 75% of China never touched Adwords, the starting crowd is still larger than the US.
Not really, at least what I've read. You might be ok if you're a small operator but once you are occupying a niche that is competing with a state-connected enterprise
Same thing goes for entrepreneurs that start to make a healthy profit, a state-connected enterprise will push you out to assume those profits themselves.
(state-connected refers to those enterprises run or owned by individuals connected to the elite of the "Communist" party, i.e. some general's nephew)
Also, when redirected to the HK page it is in the style of the mainland page, not the original HK page, and it is in simplified, not traditional, characters. When accessing the page in simplified characters it also gives a message: Welcome to the new home of Google China.
Do not anger the worm.
The word you are looking for is "except".
There is a war going on for your mind.
From the end of google's blog post:
Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.
The only part of Google's business that is leaving China is the search engine. Their other divisions (mobile phone with Android, advertising, etc) are staying put. They have a lot of avenues through which to offer their products to the Chinese. The search engine is their core tool, but it isn't their only one.