Google
aims for China launch of Google Play app store next year
-sources
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[November 20, 2015]
By Paul Carsten and Yimou Lee
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Google, part
of Alphabet Inc, aims to launch the China version of its Google Play
smartphone app store next year, according to people familiar with the
matter, its first major foray in the market since ending localized
product support in 2010.
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The Google Play app store would be set up specifically for China,
and not connected to overseas versions of Google Play, two of the
people said.
Google intends to comply with Chinese laws on filtering content that
might be viewed as sensitive by the ruling Communist Party, and laws
requiring the company to store the app store's data within the
country, those two people said.
A Singapore-based Google spokesman declined to comment.
Google largely pulled its services out of China five years ago after
refusing to continue self-censoring its search results. It has
maintained a limited presence in the world's biggest smartphone
market, but most of its services, including Play, have been rendered
borderline inaccessible.
The U.S. company would use a successful app store as a launch pad to
get other products and services into the country, said two people
familiar with Google's thinking.
However, the company has not settled on which product might come
next, they said.
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Chief Executive Sundar Pichai and other top brass have made no
secret that the company wants to get back into China, and Google
Play will likely be its first foray.
But critics say Google has lost basically all ground in most of its
major services, especially search and video streaming, to Chinese
players.
BREAKING THE ICE
For Google, having a product in China would be a symbolic gesture to
show that the company values the market, said Shen Si, CEO of
Chinese mobile advertising company PapayaMobile and a former Google
employee.
"If they want to break the ice with the Chinese market then they
have to pick a pretty important product to make available to the
Chinese people and make it really localized," she said.
"Google Play would be a really good product for that because it's
not very sensitive."
Google has had its employees working hard in China to lay the ground
for the app store's launch, said one of the people with knowledge of
executives' plans.
The U.S.-based firm is hoping to launch Google Play in China some
time after Chinese New Year in February next year, and before early
summer, that person said. Another person at a company in China that
works with Google said the store will go live in 2016.
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The company hopes the app store will include as payment options
Alipay, the online payment service from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's
finance arm Ant Financial Services Group, and Tencent Holding Ltd's
WeChat Payment, said the person familiar with executives' thinking.
Rather than requiring explicit approval from China's government to
launch the app store, Google just needs to comply with Chinese laws
including those governing data storage and content filtering, the
person added. That was echoed by PapayaMobile's Shen.
Spokeswomen for Ant Financial and Tencent declined to comment.
TOO BIG TO IGNORE
China is too big a market for Google to ignore. Apple Inc complies
with local laws and made $58.7 billion last in the year ended Sept.
26 in Greater China, which includes the mainland, Hong Kong and
Taiwan, making it its second-biggest market.
Last month, Google said it would take a minority stake in
Beijing-based artificial intelligence firm Mobvoi as part of a $75
million fundraising round, as the U.S. search giant tries to rebuild
its presence in China.
Because services like its search, e-mail and mapping are blocked in
China, the U.S. firm is trying to cement partnerships with domestic
providers like Mobvoi, which offers technology similar to Apple's
Siri and Google's own version.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
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