Google and India: Pragmatism 2012
February 14, 2012
India is a juicy market. Google knows this, and my hunch is that Google is aware that it dropped a Super Bowl pass when it informed China that it had to do Googley things. Well, how did that turn out? In my opinion, not so well, but Google will undoubtedly find a way to glom onto the world’s largest market. While that kiss-and-make-up activity is underway, Google is demonstrating some pragmatic thinking about the world’s second largest market—India.
Navigate to “Google Bows to Censors in India”, a story in Google’s home town newspaper. The San Jose Mercury News gently asserts:
A Google representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday that while the company recently declined a request by a government minister to pre-screen content considered politically or religiously offensive, Google now faced a court order and had no choice but to follow it. Google would not release details about what content it had taken down or explain how it planned to respond to the government’s demand for a self-policing action plan.
I think this means that Google is doing what India wants. Good move. Now I must ask, “Is the article accurate?” I will monitor Overflight to see if Google does the Shanghai shuffle and tells the government of India what it should do. With costs creeping up and the competitors getting frisky, Google may find that being Googley is okay in certain situations and not so useful in others. Management maturity or an act of revenue enhancement? Worth monitoring the censorship thing, however.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2012
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