Google, the leading search engine in the world, is now planning to return to mainland China this fall after a 5 year absence.
The company’s Chinese language search engine has been working from Hong Kong since 2010, after a series of cyber-attacks that were linked to the Chinese government. After that episode Google said it would stop censoring search results in China. As a result Google’s availability in China was severely curtailed.
It seems that in a new deal, Google will need to shut down apps that do not meet government regulations. The Internet giant has been working with the Chinese government to create a customized version of its Google Play mobile app. In doing so the firm would be able to capture some of the huge smartphone audience that currently downloads apps via a number of other app stores.
To do so, Google is working with a local company to create an App Store that suits the Chinese customers.
Google’s re-entry into China will create some competition for China’s current leading search engine Baidu, but with Google offering services outside of search, such as Google Play, other Chinese services stand to face competition as well.
