Everywhere in the world Google carries all before it. It is supreme. Unstoppable. The very epitome of American know-how. Who can resist?
In fact, China can. In China Google is most definitely not in the lead and this it finds unusual and, perhaps, unforgivable. Indeed, under questioning Eric Schmidt, who manages the organization as CEO, got quite hot under the collar. Miffed, indeed.
At a press conference he was asked about the apparent lack of success of the China Google. He went very cold and said, ‘Let me be very crisp. We are very happy with our Chinese operations.’
In a press interview he denied reports that headquarters is dissatisfied with Google China’s chairman, Dr. Lee Kai-fu. He said, red-faced, ‘Someone’s lying. Someone’s misleading you.’ Which is more than possible.
Google China is run by Lee Kai-Fu, seen here, who was the quiet genius lured away from Microsoft.
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google was asked to asked to score the Internet giant’s staff in China. He said, ‘Ninety-five! . . . Look at all the products. Look at the team — the quality of the engineers. I mean, we’re very proud of this. We’re very proud of what Kai-fu has done.’ Which is very high praise and shows a lot of confidence. But 95 is not 100.
At a recent press conference in Beijing Schmidt and Lee were pushed by questioning about their tough year. It does appear that Google has weathered it and is now starting to move forward on its rivals, especially and specifically the country’s leading search site Baidu.com.
Lee Kai-Fu and Google in China did not have the best of years:
February: Google China criticized for operating Google.cn by using a Beijing-based company’s Internet Content Provider license.
April: Google China launches its official Chinese site name Gu Ge, which means ‘song of grain’ in Chinese. Bit of an awkward name. Soon, a Web site titled ‘No Gu Ge’ was launched and attracted thousands of hits.
December: Google China’s sales and marketing president, Xiaoning Chou, resigns after headquarters turns down his marketing proposal.
April, 2007. This year did not start off too well. Chinese portal Sohu.com accused Google China of intellectual property rights infringement. According to Sohu.com, Google China’s most recent product for Chinese character input software used its glossary database. A week later, Google China apologized.
Lee Kai-Fu kept it all together. He played the long game and convinced Schmidt that patience and long-term commitment are keys to opening China’s door.
Eric Schmidt accepted the idea. He said, ‘China is a nation with 5,000-year history. That could indicate the duration for our patience.’
To deal with the massive lead held by Baidu.com Google has chosen to concentrate on improving its search services. To meet local needs rather than rush to introduce new products to compete with Baidu.com.
The latest data from Alexa, an Internet research company, shows a marked increase in Chinese viewership in 2007 for Google.com and Google.cn. By early spring, Google.cn had clawed its way to 61st place among global search engines, up seven notches from three months earlier.
This can be very misleading so do not make too much of it. The Alexa figures are fairly iffy because they exclude all Firefox users. Alexa only works with Internet Explorer. But at least it is an indication.
On those figures Google is moving up in China and Baidu.com is moving down. Again, do not make too much of this. It is very easy for these figures to be skewed. But it does suggest that Google is succeeding to a degree.
The question is how far, how fast?
So far this year, Google has launched nine products in China, including a mobile search feature. That compares with four new products from Baidu.com.
Google China recently announced a plan to share advertising revenue by cooperating with hundreds of Web sites affiliated with China Telecom.
Eric Schmidt is right in saying Google in China will get bigger and better. The question is whether it can knock Baidu.com off its perch. It is a question not easily answered.
Source: Cajing