China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. won’t use Google Inc.’s search function on its smartphones, even those using the U.S. search giant’s own Android mobile operating system, because of Google’s decision not to censor search results in China, according to a report Thursday.
The telecom company, which is currently working with handset manufacturers to develop a few Android-based phones for its subscribers, will leave the choice of an alternative search engine to those manufacturers, the Financial Times reported.
“We are willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law. … We don’t have any cooperation with Google currently,” Lu Yimin, president of Unicom, was quoted as saying in the report.
The remarks highlight a likely commercial fallout for Google that goes beyond the traditional Internet-search market. China is the world’s largest market for mobile phones and mobile-phone searches, in addition to being one of the largest overall Internet users.
According to a survey by the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of Internet users in China jumped nearly 29% in 2009 to 384 million.
But the number of mobile Internet activity climbed at a much faster pace, rising by 120 million to 230 million users during the period. Mobile Internet customers accounted for 60.8% of all Internet users in China, the survey showed.
Incoming search terms for the article:
name search canada
how to use a search engine in android
