Google has taken its first concrete step out of China, postponing the launch of two mobile phones produced specifically for the Chinese market, Jane Macartney reports in The Times from Beijing.
These two handsets were developed in partnership with Samsung Electronics and Motorola and were due to be unveiled on January 21in a deal with China Unicom, a local mobile phone service provider.
The launch postponement is a sequel to the spat between China and Google over search engine censorship rules. Google has already threatened to close shop in China saying it had been the target of sophisticated cyber-attacks originating in China.
There is no end to their dispute in sight. In fact, China on Jan 19 asked Google to abide by local rules.
‘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’, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, said at a regular news briefing.
Motorola has produced 20,000 handsets for China Unicom at a cost of £300 each. Samsung has had turned out 10,000 handsets which are slightly less costly. Both handsets come preloaded with services such as Google mobile search and Google Maps.
Several years ago Yahoo! had a spat with Beijing. It turned over its operations to local e-commerce giant Alibaba group after it was forced to divulge details of a Chinese dissident to the authorities.
An estimated 380 million Chinese are glued to the Internet, making China’s on-line population bigger than the entire US population.
