It’s seemed possible for a while now that the Chinese government would attempt to cripple Google’s operations in the country. Or that, in response to Google’s stand against censorship, authorities would at least hold a grudge for years to come. But Google seems to have won a small reprieve, as mobile accessibility issues have been resolved.
Early last week, a "Mainland China service availability" page Google established indicated that the company’s mobile services in China had been partially blocked. The yellow wrench icon then continued to appear day after day, pretty much eliminating any hope that the problem was a fluke.
A green checkmark’s now visible again, though, signaling that everything was in working order yesterday.
Assuming the yellow wrench doesn’t reappear tomorrow, this development may represent a significant breakthrough. Even a sort of victory for Google, if the Chinese government has decided not to follow through on some rather harsh statements about lawbreakers being "unfriendly, irresponsible," and having "to pay the consequences."
Of course, it’s possible that some other service of Google’s could start suffering accessibility issues at any time. The twists and turns of this conflict have proven extremely difficult to predict.
Still, for one man’s ideas regarding what could happen, see Abby Johnson’s interview with Kaiser Kuo, who works as a consultant for Youku.