China: Law-abiding Android phones are OK
Thursday, January 28, 2010 09:22 AM
Google and China disagree about censorship of Web search results, but a spokesman for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said this week that phones using Google's Android operating system are permissible.
"As long as it fulfills Chinese laws and regulations and has good communication with telecom operators, I think its application should not have restrictions," said Zhu Hongren, the spokesman at a news briefing, according to the Associated Press.
Of course, China permitted Google's Web search service, too, as long as it complied with the law. But those terms ultimately proved objectionable to Google, which said earlier this month it will stop censoring search results even if that means it has to shut down its Chinese operations.
Android is an open source operating system that anyone may use, and on phones today it includes a prominent Google search box on its home screen. The search element could be modified easily enough to use different search engines, though. And in any event, a search engine supplying results is separate from the devices that's requesting them.
Google postponed launches of Android phones from Samsung and Motorola earlier this month in China.
Dell also has plans to sell its Android-based Mini 3 in China.
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
Hello Everyone,
I really enjoyed reading this article. I currently own an Android phone, the G1 Phone. As we mentioned in an earlier blog discussion, Google in having a lot of trouble entering China. So, it was no surprise to me that they would have difficulty releasing their phones in China. One thing I wondered about was my ability to use my G1 in China. The article mentions switching browsers, perhaps one that has more censorship; but, would it effects individuals traveling abroad that are accustomed to using the traditional Google search engine. I also wondered how difficult it would be to placed advertisements on the Android phones, or the level of difficulty to acquire a new application on the phones. The phrase "Law-abiding Android phones are OK" really made me question how successful the phones would be in China. I have typically viewed Android users as consumers that enjoyed the freedom of information.
I will be adding more to this blog as I continue my research. Please share your thoughts with me.
Very interesting. I was not aware of people using Android phones in the US..definitely will follow your posts on the subject, because (a)intrigued as to why China would allow it since open-source system would mean censorship would be harder, an approach that Chinese government have followed so far; (b) how this would affect our options to communication within China as well as placing calls back home to US using this technology.
ReplyDeleteYour grade for this blog is 3.