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Google officially launching services in China
(CRI/AP)
Updated: 2006-01-25 10:17 Online search engine leader Google Inc. announced
on Wednesday that it is officially launching its services in China.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new version of
its search engine bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," on Wednesday. A
Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available
through the company's dot-com address in the United States.
By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its search
engine more widely available and easier to use in the world's most populous
country.
China already has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is
expected to swell substantially — an alluring prospect for Google as it tries to
boost its already rapidly rising profits.
Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing-based company in which Google owns a 2.6 percent
stake, currently runs China's most popular search engine. But a recent Keynote
Systems survey of China's Internet preferences concluded that Baidu remains
vulnerable to challenges from Google and Yahoo Inc.
"We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make
meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of
development in China," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior policy counsel.
Initially, Google's Chinese service will be limited to searching Web pages
and images. The company also will provide local search results and a special
edition of its news service.
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