It seems pretty obvious not to argue with your customers, especially relatively new customers, but that’s exactly what happened in 2010 when Google famously got into a dispute with China over its tough censorship of the Internet. Since then, China has grown into one of the largest consumers of the Internet in Asia, and Google has had to look on from the sidelines – while Android has a presence there, its Google Play apps don’t feature on any Chinese devices due to that 2010 decision to pull out. Thankfully, it looks like Google is set to mend ties with China, which will allow a modified Google Play Store to feature on Chinese devices as well as bring the Android Wear operating system to China for the first time too.
The obvious disclaimer over all of this is that the Chinese government must approve everything that goes through and reserves the right to shut down anything that they see as breaching their agreement. On the flip side, smartphones and smartwatches are still undergoing a big growth period in China so it’s absolutely essential for Google to re-enter China if it hopes to be there when the growth plateaus.
What do you think about Google making things over with China? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: The Information via TalkAndroid
