Insiders familiar with the matter reveal that NetEase, a Chinese company, is on its way to team up with Google. The purpose of this partnership would be to bring back the digital media store operated by the search giant to China.
China is a huge market for smartphones, but mobile services and apps are also very popular. Sadly, the Google Play Store is not present in the country at this time. However, this might change soon thanks to the Chinese technology company known as NetEase.
According to The Information, "NetEase has approached Google to form a joint venture to launch the store, called Google Play, in China, according to two people familiar with the discussions." For now, Google still has to confirm its return to China as the sources mentioned above also revealed that an agreement between the two parties had not been reached yet.
Google left the Chinese market back in 2010, after refusing to censor its search results and redirecting Chinese users to Google Hong Kong. Soon after that, the Chinese government restricted access to Google's HK website. In the meantime, Google's popular Play Store did not become available in China.
Even if NetEase and Google reach an agreement, the Chinese government has to allow it as well. Remains to see what happens.
Codrut Nistor - Senior Tech Writer - 6124 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013
In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I've been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
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