OOT> The Economist notes skepticism of Google, suggesting its reasons for considering withdrawal from China are commercial:
In Silicon Valley, its home, Google’s change of tack in China was widely applauded. But some were asking whether it was “more about business than thwarting evil” to quote TechCrunch, a widely read website. Besides pointing to Google’s failure to eat into Baidu’s market share, cynics noted that, whereas, according to Mr Drummond, Google’s revenues in China are “truly immaterial”, its costs are not. It employs about 700 people in China, some of them royally paid engineers, who may now may have to look for other jobs. Hacker attacks and censorship, critics say, are convenient excuses for something Google wanted to do anyway, without appearing to be retreating commercially. Google strongly rejects this interpretation.
economist.com
For my part, I'd say that Google can afford to take the high road because it can't see big profits in the near-future. I'd guess that if there weren't the human-rights issues and company image problems, they'd not walk away from a big and growing market.
Ashley |
