Google Delays Release of Cellphones in China

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Google heeft zichzelf behoorlijk in de hoek gewerkt.
Eén voor en twee tegen in de top, en China maakt géén uitzondering (ook
naïef om uitzondering te verwachten).
Ben benieuwd of ze een markt van 1,5miljard mensen laten schieten.

Groet / Cees

January 20, 2010
Google Delays Release of Cellphones in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/technology/companies/20phone.html
By EDWARD WONG

BEIJING — Google said Tuesday that it and a Chinese cellphone service
company had postponed the release this week of two mobile phones that
would use Google’s Android software.

Google did not give a reason for the delay, but a person briefed on the
situation said the company did not feel that the phones should be
released given the current uncertainty over its Chinese operations and
its Chinese-language search engine. The company announced last week that
it would negotiate with Chinese officials over the government’s
unwelcome requirement that Google censor searches on its Chinese search
engine, Google.cn. The company, based in Northern California, said it
could shut down or curtail operations in China if the government did not
relent.

Google made last week’s announcement after it discovered that hacking
attacks traced to mainland China had been directed at its security
infrastructure and that of more than 30 other companies based in the
United States. Google was also frustrated by separate attacks against
the Google e-mail accounts of rights advocates working on China issues.

Opponents of China’s complex system of Internet censorship, nicknamed
the Great Firewall, and of the authoritarian nature of the Communist
Party in general were pleased with Google’s move, though some skeptics
say Google has little to lose from withdrawing from China since its
search engine has a relatively small market share here. Baidu, which
runs a homegrown search engine, is dominant.

The announcement that Google and China Unicom were postponing the
release of the cellphones showed that Google has more at stake in China
than just the revenue from Google.cn.

The two phones were to be released on Wednesday and are made by Samsung
and Motorola, with service provided by China Unicom. The phones use an
open-platform software developed by Google called Android. Anyone can
download the source code of Android, install the software on their
cellphones and customize it. Because of this, cellphone companies have
already offered Android phones in China, and individual users here have
presumably used the software before.

What makes these two phones different is that Google has been working
closely with Samsung, Motorola and China Unicom on their design and
operating systems. Google applications had been carefully packaged with
the phones.

Google thought it would be “irresponsible” to release the phones since
it did not “know how things are going to turn out in the coming weeks,”
the person briefed on the situation said. The person agreed to speak
only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive political
nature of the dispute between Google and China.

“Put yourselves in the shoes of a consumer thinking about what phone to
buy next week or the week after — there’s just a lot of uncertainty and
confusion,” the person said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ma Zhaoxu, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a
news conference that “foreign enterprises in China need to adhere to
China’s laws and regulations, respect the interests of the general
public and cultural traditions, and shoulder corresponding
responsibilities. Google is no exception.”

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