WebProNews

Tag: China

  • China Prepared To Prosecute Google Over Maps

    Seven months from now, another confrontation between Google and the Chinese government may well occur.  The government’s indicated that it intends to take legal action against Google if the company doesn’t seek (and obtain) official approval of its mapping program.

    China issues mapping licenses in order to ensure that all maps match the government’s own view of its territory.   That way, citizens aren’t encouraged to think that disputed regions might belong to other countries or be independent.  Also, military facilities can better be kept out of public view.

    Google hasn’t even applied for a mapping license, though, Michael Kan learned from the Chinese government.

    So Kan was able to report, "China will investigate and prosecute Google next July if the search engine company does not acquire the necessary state license to operate its Google Maps service in the country, according to the government."

    GoogleThat could become a major problem for Google, since being unable to provide such a basic service would probably affect its share of the search market.

    Meanwhile, Kan wrote, "Domestic search engine Baidu, which holds a 73 percent market share, has already received approval for a mapping license.  Microsoft’s joint venture in China is in the process of applying, the bureau said."

  • Google Renews Focus On Growth In China

    Google Renews Focus On Growth In China

    Since the Chinese government hasn’t decided to force it out, Google’s going to move forward in the country, according to a high-ranking exec.  David Drummond said this week that Google is making an effort to hire more workers and attract new advertisers.

    Drummond, whose title is "Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer," spoke to Douglas MacMillan and Brian Womack and indicated that conditions in China seem to be stable enough for the time being.

    As a result, Google’s not sitting on its hands, and MacMillan and Womack were able to report after the interview, "Google Inc. is adding employees and redoubling efforts to win new advertisers in China . . . .  The company is hiring sales and engineering staff . . ."

    David DrummondGoogle lost a fair amount of ground to Baidu due to its dispute with the Chinese government and switcheroo involving servers in Hong Kong, so this makes sense if you figure that the company needs to compensate.  It makes less sense if you think another clash is inevitable.

    But MacMillan and Womack wrote, "Google’s license to operate in China was renewed in July, and the company expects it to be renewed again next year, barring a change in posture from Chinese officials, [Drummond] said."

    Unfortunately, Drummond didn’t share any specifics concerning Google China’s head count or advertising goals.

  • China Blocks Google’s Latest Hong Kong-Based Site

    Google’s new question and answer site for people in China is not off to a great start.  Although the site was based in Hong Kong for the sake of avoiding problems related to censorship, would-be users have been unable to access it today.

    As you probably guessed, all signs indicate that the Chinese government is to blame.  Melanie Lee reported earlier this morning that some of the user-generated questions appearing on the site concerned touchy subjects like Tiananmen Square and the Cantonese language.

    Also, a Google spokesperson told Lee, "If you are noticing there is a blockage you would need to ask the government as it would be an issue at their end."

    So it looks like the launch of the site, which occurred less than a month ago, may largely amount to wasted effort on Google’s part.  And at this point, it almost seems that Chinese authorities are toying with the search giant, granting it an Internet Content Provider license one month and cracking down again the next.

    Anyway, the Chinese government has stayed mum on the subject so far, neither confirming nor denying anything.

    Interestingly, however, Google’s stock is up a tiny bit so far this morning compared to Baidu’s (they’re down 0.29 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively).

  • Chinese Advertisers Break Away From Google

    Despite the Chinese government’s decision to renew Google’s Internet Content Provider license, the company is continuing to run into trouble in that country.  The latest problem is that two of Google’s authorized advertising agents have ended their relationships with the corporation.

    That’s in no way a good sign for Google.  Wang Xing reported that Universal Internet Media and the Xi’an Weihua Network were two out of only 25 authorized advertising agents, and they were also "the major advertising agents for Google in East and Northwest China."

    The organizations must have represented a pretty significant percentage of Google’s revenue stream, then, and Google was already doing a poor job of attracting advertisers compared to Baidu.

    Plus, it’s necessary to consider whether the exits of Universal Internet Media and the Xi-an Weihua Network will be part of a trend.  If they’re successful enough partnering with another company, additional advertisers might follow their lead, either to avoid negative connotations or just pursue bigger audiences.

    But Google’s not completely out of allies.  Wang Xing wrote, "Cheng Yu, general manager of Zoom Interactive, a Google authorized advertising agent in Beijing, said on Monday his company will continue its partnership with Google."

    So Google fans can hope that this is just an isolated incident.

  • Google Readies Hong Kong-Based Q&A Site

    Although many human rights and free speech advocates may not approve of the concessions the company’s made, it looks like Google’s attempt to stand up to the Chinese government is continuing.  Google is supposed to launch a new Q&A service to compete with other products it will stop supporting.

    Owen Fletcher reported this morning, "Google Inc. said Tuesday it will stop providing technical support this week for two online services in China run by the operator of one of the country’s most popular online forums, after the U.S. firm said earlier it would phase out censored search deals with its Chinese partners."

    Now, that last statement is somewhat debatable, considering that many of Google’s Chinese partners themselves decided to break off deals when Google started angering the government.

    But the key point is that Fletcher continued, "Google . . . will launch its own question-and-answer service on the Hong Kong site for mainland China users in ‘the coming few days,’ it said in a Chinese-language blog post."

    That should prove useful to the many Chinese citizens who are able to find their way around the Great Firewall, while at the same time following the letter of the law and keeping Google out of further trouble.

    Meanwhile, Baidu’s stock is still taking a beating following a report that the company’s again been selling ads to counterfeit drug sites.  It’s down 2.24 percent so far this morning, while the Nasdaq and Google are only down 1.47 percent and 0.37 percent, respectively.

  • State Media Targets Baidu Over Counterfeit Drug Ads

    Chinese search giant Baidu may be in trouble.  China Central Television (CCTV) – which is state-owned and easily the country’s largest broadcaster – has accused the company of allowing sites that deal in counterfeit drugs to buy ads.

    As explained by Reuters this morning, "CCTV reported on Sunday that Baidu and other search engines had profited from promoting three websites offering counterfeit drugs that had duped more than 3,000 people in China."

    Then here are a couple more important details: "In 2008, CCTV aired a similar expose on Baidu selling links to unlicensed medical sites with unproven claims for their products. . . .  As a result of the scandal, Baidu had overhauled its operations and sacked staff involved."

    And it looks like the situation is starting to deteriorate this time, too.  Baidu’s stock has already fallen 3.89 percent on the stock market this morning, even though the Dow’s up 0.43 percent, the Nasdaq’s up 0.57 percent, and Google’s up 0.06 percent.

    (Google doesn’t at this point appear to be part of the "other search engines" group, by the way.)

    It should be interesting to see how the case proceeds, then.  This could give Google at least a slight temporary advantage, making the American company look like a safer alternative to Chinese searchers.

  • China Renews Google’s Internet License

    After months and months of censorship, workarounds, and harsh words between them, it’s been decided: the Chinese government will not force Google out of the country.  Google announced this morning that its Internet Content Provider license has been renewed.

    Google’s announcement was quite understated, with no gloating evident.  Indeed, it just came in the form of a one-sentence update to the most recent China-related post on the Official Google Blog.

    The update read, "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China."

    This is undeniably big news, though.  From a human rights perspective, it means Google will continue to expose itself to criticism over whatever information it denies Chinese users.  And also praise for at least providing them with some information they might have had more trouble accessing before.

    Then, from a business perspective, this development means Google still has a chance to profit as the world’s most populous country goes online.  Which investors should appreciate.  (Google’s stock is actually up 2.99 percent in trading so far this morning, while Baidu’s stock has sunk 1.97 percent.)

    Expect more comments from Google executives and Chinese officials as the news spreads.

  • Google’s New Plan for China

    Google’s New Plan for China

    We haven’t heard much about the Google/China situation lately, but now Google’s Internet Content Provider license is up for renewal, so Google has provided an update.

    On the Official Google Blog,SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond says:

    We currently automatically redirect everyone using Google.cn to Google.com.hk, our Hong Kong search engine. This redirect, which offers unfiltered search in simplified Chinese, has been working well for our users and for Google. However, it’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable—and that if we continue redirecting users our Internet Content Provider license will not be renewed (it’s up for renewal on June 30). Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China.

    That’s a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk—where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering. This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page.

    Google China - New landing page

    Google will end the redirect completely over the next few days, and Chinese users will be directed to the new landing page. Google has already submitted its license renewal application based on this strategy.

    What do you think of Google’s new approach to China?

  • Map Licensing Law May Spell Trouble For Google In China

    Google may soon find out whether or not the Chinese government is at peace with its decision to redirect searchers to Google.com.hk, judging by a new report.  It turns out the company must soon receive official approval to keep its mapping services running in the country.

    GoogleLoretta Chao wrote this afternoon, "[C]ompanies must demonstrate that they have systems in place to ensure that their maps, including disputed territories, are labeled in accordance with Chinese rules and that sensitive information like military addresses is removed."

    That won’t be a cut-and-dry matter, though.  Even if Google is willing to comply with China’s requests on a corporate level – which is of course a big, big "if" – the manner in which Google allows/encourages users to edit maps means something controversial could crop up at any moment.

    So now we wait and see what happens.  Chao reported, "An initial list of approved companies is expected to be announced later this month; a list of companies that haven’t complied with the new rules will be announced by the end of the year.  Companies whose applications are denied won’t be allowed to continue offering online map services in China."

    And Google’s market share would likely take another big hit if it isn’t able to provide such a basic tool.

  • Google Rallies Again Against Chinese Censorship

    If you thought Google and China had achieved some kind of ceasefire agreement after Google pulled its stunt involving Google.hk.com, think again.  David Drummond, Chief Legal Officer at the company, indicated today that Google’s seeking political allies who might joins its fight against censorship.

    GoogleThe Press Association reported this afternoon, "[T]he search engine is asking the US and European governments to press China to lift internet censorship, describing it as an unfair barrier to free trade."

    Drummond, obviously speaking from experience, then laid out Google’s exact argument, saying, "[T]he censorship, of course, is for political purposes but it is also used as a way of keeping multinational companies disadvantaged in the market.  It should be obvious that the Internet sector is very important to the west and so we should be working on seeing that that kind of trade is protected."

    Google received some support from politicians in the weeks following its "new approach to China" announcement, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was particularly vocal about finding out who or what was responsible last year’s attack on the company.  But not much came of all that.

    Drummond didn’t say whether or not he thinks Google will have better luck this time, either.

  • Baidu Sets Sights On Market Share Of 79 Percent

    Baidu’s share of the Chinese search market is going to get much bigger quite soon, if the company has its way.  An exec explained this morning that Baidu would like to see its share reach 79 percent next year.

    Tang Hesong, General Manager of Corporate Development at Baidu, relayed that figure at a news conference, according to Reuters, and since Analysys International determined Baidu’s market share to be just 64.0 percent in the first quarter of this year, it’s possible to suppose that the company’s sights are set too high.

    It’s not hard to imagine that the goal is realistic – or even conservative – though.  Baidu’s rate of growth between the fourth quarter of 2009 (when it had a market share of 58.4 percent) and the first quarter of 2010 make the jump look achievable, for example.  In fact, if Baidu continued to gain share at that pace, it’d clear the 80.0 percent mark this year.

    Then it’s of course necessary to consider that Google’s position has only gotten weaker since it brought Google.com.hk into play on March 22nd.

    So don’t be surprised if Baidu manages to corner the Chinese search market in the very near future.  The less predictable factor is how much money the company will make as a result, and how Google (and Google’s shareholders) will respond.

  • Taobao And Yahoo Japan Partner On Ecommerce

    Taobao And Yahoo Japan Partner On Ecommerce

    China’s top ecommerce website Taobao and Yahoo Japan have partnered to launch two online platforms to cross sell in each other’s markets.

    The partnership will allow Yahoo Japan merchants to list some eight million items in a Chinese-language TaoJapan section.

    Taobao, a subsidiary of ecommerce firm Alibaba group, will offer 50 million products from China to Japanese consumers on Yahoo Japan’s China Mall. The two platforms will launch on June 1.

    Jack-Ma-and-Masayoshi-Son "We are pleased to help Japanese small businesses sell their products to China on our Taobao platform as we believe more choice is a good thing. As a result of this initiative, our respective customers will eventually be able to choose from millions of products from China and Japan," said Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group.

    "In addition to providing our respective consumers with broader choices, both Alibaba Group and SoftBank also understand the power of e-commerce to change the fortunes of small businesses for the better and that’s why we have decided to create a solution that brings about benefits for both the small businesses and the consumers in China and Japan, and around the world."

    Taobao and Yahoo Japan expect the new offerings will create jobs by helping to increase small business growth through ecommerce and by opening markets for goods and services for domestic merchants by creating access to overseas sales.

    Taobao and Alibaba Japan will jointly operate TaoJapan. Taobao will operate the website and Alibaba.com Japan will act as a fulfillment service provider for Yahoo Japan China Mall.

    Alibaba.com Japan is a joint venture between Alibaba.co and SoftBank Corp.

    "We expect that the Asian economy will continue to grow further led mainly by China and Japan, and that the Internet business and e-commerce business will be the core of that growth," said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO, SoftBank Corp, and chairman of the Board, Yahoo! Japan Corp. SoftBank is the largest shareholder in Yahoo! Japan with a nearly 41 percent interest.
     

  • Baidu Reports Good Q1 Results, High Hopes For Q2

    Assuming they haven’t already done so, it wouldn’t be surprising if Baidu’s execs decide to send some thank you notes and fruit baskets to their counterparts at Google.  Baidu released its first-quarter earnings report late yesterday, and – due in large part to Google’s recent moves – the last few months went well, and the future looks even brighter.

    Analysts though Baidu would report revenue in the neighborhood of $180.1 million and earnings per share along with lines of $1.50.  Instead, the company reported $189.6 million in revenue (a 59.6 percent year-over-year increase) and earnings per share of $2.10.

    This led Robin Li, the chairman and CEO of Baidu, to observe in a statement, "We delivered a quarter of record revenue and strong profitability despite the usual seasonality associated with the Chinese New Year holiday."

    As for the next quarter, Baidu thinks it will earn something like $268.1 million to $274.0 million in terms of revenue, which should represent a 67 to 70 percent year-over-year increase.

    All of this good news and optimism has sent Baidu’s shares up an impressive 14.10 percent in pre-market trading.  Perhaps some shareholders’ association will also spend a few bucks to genuinely thank Google for its decision, then.

  • US Still Main Source Of Spam

    US Still Main Source Of Spam

    The United States continues to be the main source of spam, relaying more than 13 percent of global spam, according to a new report from Sophos.

    (more…)

  • Google Loses Chinese Exec To Baidu

    It’s almost a waste of space to state that Google is a good employer; the fact is widely known, and people all over the world apply there on a regular basis.  However, in a move that may speak to how the search giant is faring in China, an important research executive has gone to work for Baidu after quitting Google within the past couple weeks.

    GoogleKathrin Hille, who’s based in Beijing, got in contact with both companies and confirmed, "Baidu said Wang Jing had joined the company as a vice-president in charge of engineering.  Google said Mr Wang quit as engineering director earlier this month."

    This is bad news for Google.  It would make sense if search people left its Chinese operation, given that everything’s been routed through Hong Kong.  Google’s advertising and research efforts were supposed to continue the same as usual, though, and it’s not as if the company cut anyone’s salary due to its disagreement with the Chinese government.

    Wang Jin’s decision to leave would just appear to be a reflection on Google’s worsening reputation in the region, then.

    Google will have to hope (and/or take action to ensure) that this doesn’t represent the start of a trend, with more and more employees leaving to work for Baidu or other Chinese competitors.

  • Chinese Block On Google’s Mobile Services Lifted

    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. 

  • Game Over For Google In China?

    Game Over For Google In China?

    Google’s term as a search provider in China may at last be coming to an end.  Reports from all over the country indicate that would-be users are only getting error messages when they conduct searches, even if their queries cover completely bland and innocent terms.

    Google LogoAaron Back, who’s based in Beijing, wrote earlier, "Internet users reported new disruptions to Google Inc. Internet search services in China on Tuesday afternoon, with many saying they are unable to search for any term on the Google site."  Test words included "happy" and "the," not just things like "Tiananmen Square massacre."

    This could be the result of a mistake; a number of Chinese Twitter users have suggested that the problem’s been caused by an automated program noticing the letters "RFA" (as in Radio Free Asia) in results pages’ URLs.

    Still, since the error messages are appearing just one day after Google found that its mobile service had been partially blocked, the development appears rather ominous.

    Google’s supposed to be looking into the matter.  The Chinese government hasn’t yet issued an official statement.  We’ll be sure to report any additional information as it becomes available.

    UPDATE: Google has released a statement tentatively confirming the RFA theory, after all: "This blockage seems to have been triggered by a change on Google’s part. In the last 24 hours ‘gs_rfai’ started appearing in the URLs of Google searches globally as part of a search parameter, a string of characters that sends information about the query to Google so we can return the best result. Because this parameter contained the letters rfa the great firewall was associating these searches with Radio Free Asia, a service that has been inaccessible in China for a long time–hence the blockage."

    UPDATE 2: Scratch that.  Google’s now stated, "Having looked into this issue in more detail, it’s clear we actually added this parameter a week ago. So whatever happened today to block Google.com.hk must have been as a result of a change in the great firewall."

  • Google Reports “Partially Blocked” Mobile Service

    It looks like China has found another way to strike back following Google’s decision to redirect Google.cn users to Google.com.hk.  The search company is reporting that its mobile service in China is now "partially blocked."

    This information was disclosed through the "Mainland China service availability" page Google established after making its somewhat dramatic semi-exit.  And as you can see below, "mobile" is the first service to have its status change since the page debuted.

    This appears to signal that China’s stepping up its show of disapproval.  Indeed, Google’s mobile-related problems in China are really starting to accumulate; China Unicom and Motorola both split with the company last week, and it’s rumored that China Mobile will do the same in the near future.

    (Pressure from the Chinese government is thought to be a motivating factor in every instance, in case you couldn’t guess.)

    Anyway, a hat tip goes to David Sarno.  One other detail worth noting: Google’s stock is down the tiniest bit at the moment (0.02 percent versus the Nasdaq’s gain of 0.54 percent), perhaps as investors express their unhappiness about the idea of losing another revenue stream.

  • Motorola Splits With Google In China

    Motorola Splits With Google In China

    Google’s decision to redirect Chinese searchers to Google.com.hk is having some serious repercussions.  On Monday, Chinese Internet company Tom Online distanced itself from Google.  China Unicom followed suit on Wednesday.  And now, Motorola has also turned its back on the search giant.

    Google LogoMark Lee and Hugo Miller reported late yesterday, "Motorola Inc., the handset maker that’s rebuilding its mobile-phone business around Google Inc.’s Android software, has dropped the U.S. Internet company’s search engine from one of its Android phones in China."

    It looks like Baidu and Bing will be used as replacements, and in certain regards, that isn’t too shocking.  Deals between Motorola, Baidu, and Bing were announced months ago, and the two search engines represent the market leader and an obvious American alternative, respectively.

    Still, as Lee and Miller pointed out, Google and Android are supposed to be central to Motorola’s strategy; the company’s in fact claimed that it will release 20-30 Android phones this year.  So Motorola must either have little confidence in Google’s ability to impress Chinese users, or it faced quite a lot of pressure to part ways with the American search giant.

    Both of these possibilities imply that the fallout might continue.  Google fans, hold tight.

  • Most Targeted Attacks on Senior Officials Come from China

    Symantec has a released a new report looking at the nature of industrial espionage and targeted attacks, a big issue right now, considering the whole Google/China situation. A representative for the firm tells WebPronews, "Further analysis of targeted attacks shows that the top five targeted roles are senior officials (VPs, Directors) and the individuals that receive the most targeted malware are responsible for foreign trade and defense policy, especially in relation to Asian countries."

    The attacks frequently come from malicious emails sent in small volumes aimed at gaining access to sensitive corporate data. The report suggests that the majority of targeted malware sent this month originated in China. "While most of the emails containing targeted malware are sent from mail servers in the United States, analysis of the actual sender’s location shows that most targeted attacks come from China (28.2 percent), followed by Romania (21.1 percent) and the United States (13.8 percent)," Symantec says.

    Paul Wood, Senior Analyst with Messagelabs IntelligenceLocations can be deceiving. "When considering the true location of the sender rather than the location of the email server, fewer attacks are actually sent from North America than it would at first seem," says Paul Wood, Senior Analyst for Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence. "A large proportion of targeted attacks are sent from legitimate webmail accounts which are located in the US and therefore, the IP address of the sending mail server is not a useful indicator of the true origin of the attack. Analysis of the sender’s IP address, rather than the IP address of the email server reveals the true source of these targeted attacks."

    The most common file types attached to the malicious emails are .XLS and .DOC, but the most dangerous file type, according to Symantec, is an encrypted .RAR. .ZIPs and .PDFs are also common.

  • China Unicom Turns Back On Google

    Regardless of its intentions, Google’s other undertakings in China continue to be affected by its decision concerning search.  China Unicom, which is the country’s second-largest mobile operator, has decided to cut its ties with the American company.

    Google LogoAccording to Kathrin Hille and Justine Lau, Unicom’s president, Lu Yimin, made his position clear by stating, "We are willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law . . . we don’t have any co-operation with Google currently."

    The curious thing about this development is the condition in which it may leave the Chinese company’s finances.  Just yesterday, China Unicom announced its 2009 annual results, and unfortunately for it, its profits were down about 73 percent on a year-over-year basis.

    Logically, then, China Unicom either has little confidence in Google’s ability to impress users, or it faced quite a lot of pressure to part ways with Google.  And both of those possibilities imply that there might be further bad news for the search giant.

    It should be interesting to see if China Mobile, China’s biggest mobile operator, also distances itself from Google in the days or weeks ahead.  Baidu’s share of the mobile search market will bear watching, too.