Google China: Small Bump in the Road
April 1, 2011
After my trip to Hong Kong to give a talk about “content with intent”, I have been noticing information about Google and China. I don’t have a stake in either Google or China, but I find the coverage of the US company interesting. One example is the information in “Sina Ends Google Search Engine Deal for China Online Users.” The one beat article asserts:
Sina Corp., owner of China’s third- most-visited website, dropped Google Inc.’s search engine a year after the U.S. company moved its Chinese service offshore to avoid local censorship rules. Sina stopped using Google’s search service after the expiry of a contract, Liu Qi, a spokesman at Chinese Web portal operator, said in an e-mail today. The Shanghai-based company will instead use its own proprietary technology, he said.
The key point is, in my jet lagged opinion, “use its own proprietary technology.”
I can no longer keep track of companies offering search. The reason is partly due to the demystification of search. What once was rocket science is no big deal. For those unable to code their own engine, a click on an open source package does the trick.
The optimism Google appears to be radiating about its revenue in China is interesting and somewhat at odds with what I picked up as I talked with people at the conference. I learned from one of my readers:
According to Analysys International’s statistics, Google search advertising revenue in China after a long decline, finally ushered in the fourth quarter of 2010 rose. Google China in the fourth quarter of 2010, China accounted for 23.1% of search advertising revenue share, compared to the third quarter rose 1.5 percentage points, but still 35.6% from the end of 2009, revenue market share far. [January 19, 2011]
The source provided was this link.
Google sends messages about China and the opportunities it presents to the firm. I listen, but I have to keep in mind the fact that there is some dissonance between and among messages about Google and China. No joke. Big money is at stake.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2011
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Update. According to April 3 AP story “Google profile in China shrinking”,
“Analysys estimated its 2010 China revenue at 2.6 billion yuan ($409 million) — or less than 1.5 percent of Google’s global revenues of $29.3 billion.”
Re: possible new China strategy
a maps product and future negotiations with a more responsive, younger leadership following elections in China next year.