June 8th, 2006
Google.cn: more 'Google Speak'
Google Speak (see my “Google Speak for Google Investors”) is in full throttle regarding Google.cn. Over the past week, both Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt have spoken to the press and analyst communities about Google and the Chinese market.
At last week’s investor conference call, Schmidt was vague in responding to a question about competition with Baidu in China:
we announced our Chinese strategy in March. We unveiled the office there. So that’s, what? Roughly two months. We have an incredible team that has been assembled in China…Let’s give them some time to focus on that market, bring out the localized and specialized product part of our initiative is to make sure we have the very best product in each of the markets…I don’t see a need to change what we have done
This week, Sergey Brin made a seeming mea culpa about its decisions in China while speaking to reporters in Washington D.C. Schmidt “admitted for the first time that it compromised its principles when it entered the Chinese market and agreed to toe Beijing’s strict line on censorship,” according to reports in The Times Online.
While speaking with the reporters, however, Brin also conveyed Google ambivalence regarding Google.cn, as reported by the AP:
Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense…It’s perfectly reasonable to do something different, to say, ‘Look, we’re going to stand by the principle against censorship and we won’t actually operate there.’ That’s an alternate path…It’s not where we chose to go right now, but I can sort of see how people came to different conclusions about doing the right thing.
Is Google trying to do the “right thing” in China? Join the conversation: “Talk Back” below to share your thoughts.
