Google: The East / West seesaw

Following on from Jack Ma’s comments on why Google (and others) haven’t cracked the Chinese market comes the news that Google isn’t giving up: it is launching two services – an Answers service and a social networking site. These go directly up against offerings by Baidu, the leading Chinese search engine.

Things are slightly different on this side of the globe. They recently bought up a company called Grand Central, which gave you one phone number to replace all others (home / mobile / work etc), and now several hundred of the numbers have been turned off at short notice. Google Video has been shutdown, with the prospect that the videos would no longer play. The company has now realised that it handled the situation badly and has made some concessions.

I guess you can’t guarantee that any service will be around forever, even from the most established companies, especially in the age of the perpetual beta.

• China Web 2.0: Google Answers Rebirth From China
• China Web 2.0: Google Rolls Out Laiba
• Reuters: Google reveals stake in Chinese social Web site
• The Official Google Blog: An update on Google Video feedback