Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Google aims to fight back and gain market share in China


Google is giving its local managers more autonomy and investing more in China in an effort to make up for its late entry and take the lead in the industry, CEO Eric Schmidt said.
"We are catching up. Our investment is working and we will eventually be the leader," Schmidt also said.

Google has 22% of China's search market, well behind industry leader Baidu.com, which has 55%, according to market data company iResearch.

Schmidt said Google was gaining market share but he declined to give figures, only expressing confidence that its greater financial and technical resources would help close the gap.

Google came to China after other Internet services such as Yahoo, launching its China-based search site, Google.cn, in January 2006. Google opened a Beijing research center one year ago.
Schmidt said Google plans to give its China operation, led by Kai-Fu Lee, a former Microsoft VP, greater autonomy to develop new products and respond to the local market.

I m hopeful and confident that Google China will gain market share provided if they had acknowledged their previous problems and understood the market dynamics in China to move forward. With piles of cash and the success in most part of the world, Google is in great shape to gain further traction in China. All the best to the China's Google team.

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