“China”, just hearing the word projects images of grandeur and power. So what, you might ask, would make such a powerful country worry outside of the next world war? In a word, GOOGLE! The search engine, tablet, smartphone, and mobile operating system powerhouse is really drawing a lot of attention from the big dogs overseas.
When Google does things, they do it big, no matter what the venture might be…and the world is taking notice. China is said to be worried that Google may be a little too big for their britches. China’s Technology Ministry has stated that Google has too much control over their smartphone industry via their Android operating system and that they discriminate against China’s local firms.
A white paper authored by the research arm of China’s Ministry and Information Technology also claims that China has the ability to “create its own mobile operating system” and at this time China “…is too dependent on Android.” The paper goes on to accuse Google of discrimination by developing “…agreements to restrain the business development of mobile devices of…companies it added”. Google’s spokesperson in China declined to comment on the matter.
The white paper suggests that regulations against Android might be on the horizon, but doesn’t mention anything specifically addressing the issue. To make matters worse, back in September 2012 the Taiwanese based, Alibaba Group, accused Google of “putting pressure on them” during a planned collaborative smartphone venture with US based, Acer. Acer and Google declined to comment on these accusations.
Google has had a history of problems stemming from China, to include an alleged hacking back in 2010, to which Google reacted by conducting a partial pullout of their search market share from the country. This move cost Google a 15 percent loss in search market share in China by the end of 2012. Since then, Android has been Google’s only major player in China. By the end of Q3 2012, Android accounted for a staggering 90 percent of all mobile operating systems in China, dominating Apple Inc’s IOS by over 85 percent.
Who knows what the future holds for Google in China, but recent rumors would lead us to believe that the future of Android is bleak at best.
Source: Business Insider
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