3 ms·

I don't get Google. The cost of switching to competitor's products are near-zero, Google's public image is its most valuable asset. Is the Chinese search market

• JeremyBanks 8y ago
  The cost of switching from Google was low when Search was their only product. They have their hooks a lot deeeper in users these days. Android, Gmail, Docs, and others are harder to switch away from.
  • yborg 8y ago
    It's more pervasive than that, they have hooks in the entire contemporary Internet ecosystem (DoubleClick, Google Analytics, etc.) So they don't care if you never touch a Google-branded site, they can collect and sell data on you. And Mozilla is largely funded by Google.
• est 8y ago
  The real problem with Google's china target is that China's internet is full of garbage. Public webpages values are near-zero because of the censorship. Nobody is willing to post publicly. The search results will be Garbage In Garbage Out. People are turning into invite-only "circles" like Wechat or Zhihu, where the real discussions happen and content generates. These sites are mostly non-indexable mobile apps and with billions of users. It's an dead end for Google and any other search engine business. Even China's domestic search engine Baidu is dead long ago and pivoted to AI strategy