Google has taken its first concrete step out of China, postponing the launch of two mobile phones produced specifically for the Chinese market.
The two handsets had been developed in partnership with the manufacturers Samsung Electronics and Motorola and were due to be unveiled tomorrow in a deal with the Chinese mobile phone carrier China Unicom.
The postponement follows the internet giant’s threats to close its Google.cn search engine in China unless the Government eases censorship rules. The company said that it had been the target of sophisticated cyber-attacks originating in China.
China has the world’s most-populous mobile phone market, with more than 700 million accounts. The postponement of the mobile phone launch underlines for Google how widespread the commercial fall-out of its dispute might become.
The phones, which use Google’s Android operating system software, were to have come preloaded with some Google services such as Google mobile search and Google Maps, both of which could produce search results or information that contravene Chinese censorship rules.
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The company decided that, given that it might pull out of China and withdraw such services, it was better not to launch the phones until the situation had been clarified.
“To have people buy the phones and then perhaps have the services withdrawn would not be a good customer experience,” a source within the industry said.
The Chinese magazine Caijing reported that China’s domestic partner, China Unicom, had published an internal notice saying that Google had withdrawn authorisation for content to run on its applications.
Motorola and Samsung had also apparently been notified by Google to eliminate Google-related elements from handsets, including the Google logo, the English words “Google phone” or the Chinese words “Google experience handset”. Motorola had already produced 20,000 handsets for China Unicom at a cost of 3,500 yuan (£300) each. Samsung had turned out 10,000 handsets at a cost of 3,000 yuan each, Caijing said.
Motorola and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Negotiations between Google and Chinese authorities are continuing but the signs are not hopeful for a resolution. Beijing referred to Google by name yesterday for the first time since the dispute began, declaring that the search giant must obey China’s laws and traditions.
This suggested that it was giving no ground in talks with the company about offering a legal, unfiltered Chinese search site. Google continues to offer its censored search service. “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,” said the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, at a regular news briefing.
Google has won plaudits for its decision to revert after four years to its “Don’t be evil” company motto and threaten to pull out of China. The White House has asked for an explanation for the cyber attacks from Beijing. But the company has won little support from rivals in China.
The chief executive of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which operates the Chinese arm of rival Yahoo!, said Google needed to be in China to help to “set the rules”.
Yahoo! turned over its Chinese operations to Alibaba several years ago after being forced to hand over details of a Chinese dissident to the authorities. China has the world’s most-populous internet market with more than 384million people online — bigger than the entire US population.
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The Struggle for Power
Support:
Google is backed by the White House; Steve Jobs, Apple Computer chief
China is backed by Communist party
Shows of strength:
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China - Repression of human rights in Tibet and other regions
Google - Crushed rival Microsoft with Google docs and a ruthless deal with Firefox and Apple
Hearts and minds
Google - 80 per cent of Chinese internet users want Google to stay, with some even leaving bouquets of flowers outside its offices
China - Hu Jintao topped a poll of global leaders last year with a 93 per cent rating in his home country
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Manpower
China - 384million and rising number of internet users among a total population of 1.3billion
Google - 76billion searchers a month
Intelligence
Chinese Government has invested $800million (£490million) in the Golden Shield project which monitors communications, filters the internet and gathers data on millions of its citizens
Google - Stores every search that comes through its servers
Source: Times database