San Francisco: Google is talking with Chinese authorities and
smartphone makers about opening an online shop in China stocked with
applications for Android-powered mobile devices, the Wall Street Journal
reported on Friday.
The move would mark a return for the US
Internet firm, which moved its online search service from Mainland China
to Hong Kong in 2010 after a cyberattack targeting Gmail users and a
clash over censorship.
Many Google services, such as its free Gmail email, are blocked in China.
Google-backed
Android powers the majority of the smartphones in the world and is
available free for device makers in China and elsewhere.
Manufacturers
such as Xiaomi customize their own version of Android, while Baidu and
other Internet players in China run app stores that don't share revenue
with Google, according to the Journal.
Opening a Google Play
online shop for digital content approved by the Chinese government and
pre-installed on smartphones powered by a licensed version of Android
would be a remedy for that situation.
Google has been working on
the project for more than a year and hoped to have the China app shop on
new smartphones by the end of this year, according to a source cited by
the Journal.
Google did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.