Skip to footer

Google launches Google Play in China

Google left China in 2010 after potential loss of intellectual property, hacking attempts, and persistent censorship.

|
Christina Hu/Reuters/File
A woman walks past the logo of Google in front of its headquarters in Beijing in this January 12, 2011.
  • By Subrat Patnaik Reuters

Google Inc plans to launch Google Play app store in China, The Information news website said, citing several people familiar with the matter.

The launch in China will give the company access to about half the users of its Android operating system, the report said.

The search engine giant exited China in 2010, citing repeated hacking attempts, potential loss of intellectual property and persistent censorship.

Some of Google's web services remain blocked in China and the features will not be available in the foreseeable future, the report said.

Google last year discussed with the Chinese government about launching Google Play, the Information said.

Nevertheless, "it will be unclear until the last minute" whether the government will actually permit a launch.

Google is reportedly looking to launch in collaboration with a partner. The company has approached handset manufacturers Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp.

Google was not immediately available to comment.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Google launches Google Play in China
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1120/Google-launches-Google-Play-in-China
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe