Google returns to China and finally takes action

On July 27, Forbes reported last month that Google has not given up on its plan to return to the Chinese market and has already started to take action. Google's online store Google Play may be launched in China this year. Now it seems that this news is not groundless, because some netizens have discovered that Google has started to register a series of China domain names.

Recently, some netizens discovered that Google has registered multiple domain names related to Google Play and China. As we all know, the current official website of Google Play is play.google.com. Now Google has registered multiple domain names related to China, including googleplaychina.com/.cn/.com.cn (Google Play China), googleplaychinaedition.com (Google Play China Edition), googlechinaaccount.com (Google China Account), googlechinaedition.com (Google China Edition). This series of domain names registered by Google seems to be a preparation for entering China.

In recent years, the development speed of China's smartphone market can be described as "explosive". The "2015 Q2 Global Smartphone Shipment Statistics Report" released by the research organization TrendForce not long ago showed that the global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2015 reached 304 million units, of which China's smartphone shipments reached 126 million units, accounting for 41% of the global smartphone shipments in the second quarter, an increase of 15.6% over the previous quarter. Such a huge market, Google will naturally not ignore it.

There have been reports that Google has been lobbying Chinese mobile phone manufacturers to install a link to Google Play in their phones, and Google will provide a subsidy of $1 per phone. Industry analysts believe that this move by Google indicates that it may soon be able to obtain permission to open Google Play in the Chinese mainland market, which may also be the first step for Google to return to China.

At present, China's smartphone market has become mature, and many mobile phone manufacturers and Internet companies have established comprehensive app stores. Even if Google can return to China, it will probably face more intense competition. However, the rumor that Google will return to China seems to be just a hint, and the truth is yet to be confirmed. As ordinary consumers, we should just wait and see!