After holding out for five years, Google has announced its hopes to open a version of its Play Store in China sometime in the coming fall, as an initial move to reestablish a presence in the country.
This after leaving China in 2010 stating concerns with surveillance, cyberattack and censorship.
It will be welcome news to many consumers in China where currently, Google services and apps aren’t included on Android phones sold there.
Google didn’t leave on the best of terms so they will re-enter likely through a heavy reliance on domestic partners such as Huawei to install Play Store on their phones sold in China.
What exactly Google is offering Chinese companies, who already have their own very successful app stores they built in Google’s absence, is not yet known.
Google has already told regulators that it “will follow local laws and block apps that the government deems objectionable,” and that it has no business plans or interest in selling media items such as movies, music and books.
The world’s largest internet services company must first get government approval –an even larger barrier to pass.
According to The Information, Google has already told regulators that it “will follow local laws and block apps that the government deems objectionable,” and that it has no business plans or interest in selling media items such as movies, music and books.
Last month, following Google’s announcement that it would become a subsidiary of a new holding company called Alphabet, the company’s website was banned in China in less than a day.
Obviously, there are some fences to be mended moving forward for Google in China.
