Will Google Make a China-Type Misstep in India?

March 30, 2018

India is on Google’s radar. It should be. Google has not been able to generate the type of traction it has in the US and Europe in China. Perhaps one reason is Google’s suggestion that Google “change” how it approaches digital information. That suggestion appears to have fallen on less-than-receptive ears.

Next up? India.

Google strives to make order out of chaos in search, in maps, and many other aspects of life. So, the search giant has turned its sights on a massive population that might just not be ready for Googlization: India. We learned more about how they plan to bring their order to a civilization that has thrived without Google for quite some time in a recent QZ story, “Google Maps Introduces New Features to Navigate India’s Chaotic Roads.”

According to the story, Google is tackling this challenge:

“From generating unique area-specific codes to using nearby landmarks to navigate to allowing users to add addresses that don’t appear on Maps yet, Google is attempting to bring order to the chaos. The company, which made Maps voice navigation available in Hindi in 2014, has now added six new local languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.”

This is a big challenge, but one we are confident Google is up to the task of. Another question is why the search giant is spending so much energy on this project. That, of course, boils down to money. India has millions of users waiting and according to a recent study, over 80% of Indian internet users frequent YouTube. With dollar signs in its eyes, we are confident Google will attempt to tame some of the quirks that make India so unique.

One hopes that Google will offer policy suggestions which keep India a warm and friendly place for the GOOG.

Patrick Roland, March 30, 2018

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Google, News

Comments

One Response to “Will Google Make a China-Type Misstep in India?”

south carolina on March 31st, 2018 8:57 am

south carolina

Will Google Make a China-Type Misstep in India? : Stephen E. Arnold @ Beyond Search

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.