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No, China does not want Google just like South Korea does not want Google. Everybody uses Naver here. China and South Korea do not want Google because local alt

No, China does not want Google just like South Korea does not want Google. Everybody uses Naver here. China and South Korea do not want Google because local alternatives are superior.

drawnwren 8y ago
If that were true, they wouldn't feel the need to ban Google. Naver is a completely different problem than China.
- sanxiyn 8y ago
  China doesn't ban Google, China bans websites that do not comply with its law. Chinese law compliant Google was up in China from 2006 to 2009. As soon as Google is compliant, China will unblock Google.
nitwit005 8y ago
Google had a decent hunk of the market share when it was there, and it seems to be totally dominant in Taiwan. I'd note there were articles about people griping about it being blocked at the time: https://qz.com/239810/frustrated-chinese-web-users-bemoan-baidu-and-pine-for-the-days-of-google/ https://qz.com/239810/frustrated-chinese-web-users-bemoan-ba...
- sanxiyn 8y ago
  > Google had a decent hunk of the market share when it was there Which was less than 30%.
  - nitwit005 8y ago
    Proving what? You essentially claimed no one was interested in it because there were better alternatives. You're providing evidence against your own claim here.
sonnyblarney 8y ago
Ok then, let China have access to regular Google and Facebook and then everyone can make up their own minds, how about that? Because my bet is that there are 100's of millions of Chinese who wouldn't mind access to Facebook or Google.
- sanxiyn 8y ago
  Yes, that would be lovely. My bet is that Google will be #2 lagging Baidu a lot. You can look at South Korean search market for a preview.
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    If Google is allowed in 'unrestricted' obviously they will be #1 by a wide margin. But all things being equal, sure, maybe Baidu may be #1 ... but in either case it's absurd to say 'China doesn't want Google' to the point of being almost propagandistic.
- hakfoo 8y ago
  The interesting thing is whether or not the services will actually match what Chinese consumers want. Imagine if Baidu tried to launch in the US. For most of us, we'd try it a few times for the novelty, but unless the product was knock-your-socks-off better, we'd keep getting stuck on things being a little quirky, a little unlike what we're used to, and eventually head back to Google or Bing. It's going to take a lot of real customer data to smooth off those rough spots. Google and Facebook have run trillions of A/B tests in the English speaking world, but how many have they done in China? Yes, it's arguably just a matter of throwing money at the problem, but it still means the launch will be lackluster. Also, I wonder how de-featured Google and Facebook would have to be on day 1 in China. This isn't a censorship thing, it's UGC and integration with local companies. Are you going to have enough advertisers to fill out things like the shopping carousels? Will Google's maps be as detailed as Baidu's cute pixel-art ones? Will any restaurant have more than four reviews?

No, China does not want Google just like South Korea does not want Google. Everybody uses Naver here. China and South Korea do not want Google because local alternatives are superior.

drawnwren 8y ago

If that were true, they wouldn't feel the need to ban Google. Naver is a completely different problem than China.

sanxiyn 8y ago
China doesn't ban Google, China bans websites that do not comply with its law. Chinese law compliant Google was up in China from 2006 to 2009. As soon as Google is compliant, China will unblock Google.

nitwit005 8y ago

Google had a decent hunk of the market share when it was there, and it seems to be totally dominant in Taiwan. I'd note there were articles about people griping about it being blocked at the time: https://qz.com/239810/frustrated-chinese-web-users-bemoan-baidu-and-pine-for-the-days-of-google/ https://qz.com/239810/frustrated-chinese-web-users-bemoan-ba...

sanxiyn 8y ago
> Google had a decent hunk of the market share when it was there Which was less than 30%.
- nitwit005 8y ago
  Proving what? You essentially claimed no one was interested in it because there were better alternatives. You're providing evidence against your own claim here.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

Ok then, let China have access to regular Google and Facebook and then everyone can make up their own minds, how about that? Because my bet is that there are 100's of millions of Chinese who wouldn't mind access to Facebook or Google.

sanxiyn 8y ago
Yes, that would be lovely. My bet is that Google will be #2 lagging Baidu a lot. You can look at South Korean search market for a preview.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  If Google is allowed in 'unrestricted' obviously they will be #1 by a wide margin. But all things being equal, sure, maybe Baidu may be #1 ... but in either case it's absurd to say 'China doesn't want Google' to the point of being almost propagandistic.
hakfoo 8y ago
The interesting thing is whether or not the services will actually match what Chinese consumers want. Imagine if Baidu tried to launch in the US. For most of us, we'd try it a few times for the novelty, but unless the product was knock-your-socks-off better, we'd keep getting stuck on things being a little quirky, a little unlike what we're used to, and eventually head back to Google or Bing. It's going to take a lot of real customer data to smooth off those rough spots. Google and Facebook have run trillions of A/B tests in the English speaking world, but how many have they done in China? Yes, it's arguably just a matter of throwing money at the problem, but it still means the launch will be lackluster. Also, I wonder how de-featured Google and Facebook would have to be on day 1 in China. This isn't a censorship thing, it's UGC and integration with local companies. Are you going to have enough advertisers to fill out things like the shopping carousels? Will Google's maps be as detailed as Baidu's cute pixel-art ones? Will any restaurant have more than four reviews?