There’s the world and there’s China. The Chinese like to do things their way, and this includes app marketplaces.
Android devices in China are required by law to not have Google’s services, including the app store (aka Google Play) and such.
According to reports, Lenovo’s mobile head, Chen Xudong, feels 2016 is the year when Google could finally break in to one of the largest phone markets in the world.
Xudong suggests that it is pretty evident that Google has been eyeing penetration into the Chinese market, it’ll most likely be this year when it happens.
Gizchina News of the week
For now, phones in China are shipped with app marketplaces installed by the respective OEMs instead of a unified Google Play store.
That said, there’s still an official word pending from Google about this. Knowing how companies with a scale as large as Google operate, we might not see an announcement until Goole Play actually comes to China.
How it’ll matter GizChina readers (and people outside China): Insignificant, but you will get your imported Android phones pre-installed with (official, not side-loaded) Google services.
“Android devices in China are required by law to not have Google’s services” so how could they do that?
Like anything else in China, money talks.
every phone maker have their own version of android, removing google apps (and services) is not that hard……
Always wondered how apple are allowed their app store in China but Google aren’t? This news has been coming for a while and I suspect it’s the reason Google got Huawei to manufacture the latest nexus device. This could be good news for all Chinese phone lovers as there would be no more seller hacked roms.
Well technically that would mean banning the iPhone altogether since you can’t really have a 3rd party app store for the iPhone unless you jailbreak it of course.
I think it’s because Google got into a clash with the Chinese government so they got to pay the price for this. If they behave they’ll probably be allowed back.
Google being banned had a lot more to do with them refusing to play along with China’s censorship policies on the search engine side.
Most likely it is going to mean partnering with one of Chinas major tech firms like Microsoft has done with Baidu and Windows 10.
emphasis on “Reckons” 😀
No more gapps flashing in the future of this is true.
hope there will eventually be an update for the redmi note 2.. accidentally installed the china rom and couldnt flash it with my pc or offline anymore after that 🙁