Google (Photo : REUTERS)
Google is reportedly in talks with Chinese phone makers on bringing the Google Play app store to China, where the smartphone market is experiencing record growth, according to a report from Shanghai's China Business News.
Sources told the newspaper that three of China's biggest smartphone vendors--ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, Lenovo, Vivo and Oppo--received proposals from Google, which would allegedly pay $1 for each phone pre-installed with a version of Google Play.
"For Chinese handset makers that post thin margins, a subsidy of 6 yuan ($1) is a lot," said Wang Yanhui, director of Mobile China Alliance.
Citing Xiaomi, China's market leader with projected sales of 80 million phones in 2015, Wang said that the Google subsidy would generate nearly 500 million yuan ($81 million) in added revenue for the smartphone maker.
Although Google's services, such as its search engine, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Play, dominate features in Android smartphones, they are not available China, the report said, adding that Google has expressed interest in the Chinese market this year.
"I see it [China] as a huge opportunity in which we are playing as an enabling platform today and hopefully we have a chance to offer other services in the future," Sundar Pichai, Google senior vice president of products, said in an interview with Forbes on February.
Wang expects Google to release a version of its Google Play service as a portal of apps and games in China, and to partner with a Chinese company to set up data centers in the country.
The Internet search giant, however, will face several local rivals in China's app store sector, the report said.
Internet security provider Qihoo360's 360 Mobile Assistant is currently the top Android app store in China, according to Want China Times. The Beijing-based firm is also investing in developers through a venture capital fund, strengthening its control of the industry chain.
Chinese search engine Baidu also has its own app service that taps into the company's dominance in online search in the country, while Web portal Tencent's app store leverages its social networking features, the report added.
"The problem Google has now is that its Gmail and map are blocked [in China]. The key question is whether the government will lift the ban," said Rockchip Electronics Senior Vice President Chen Feng.
