Google woes continue in China

July 1, 2010 8:56 AM EDT

Google Inc is unable to find a place among the list of 23 domestic companies in the initial list to provide online mapping services in China released by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) and other global majors like Microsoft and Nokia are also missing from the list.

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Baidu, Alibaba and Sohu are the big domestic companies that are in the list to get license to provide online mapping services, according to SBSM.

Google's recent decision to change its approach in China has already affected the company’s future in a huge market like China. On Tuesday, Google stopped automatically redirecting Chinese users to its Hong Kong site in response to the government's contention that the approach is "unacceptable" and Google stands to loose the license to operate in the country, if continued.

China treats the application for renewal of license as very late, the Xinhua News Agency earlier said. And the company will not be allowed to provide mapping services via mobile phones, if it fails to get the license, as per the SBSM rules.

Failing to get license to provide mapping services will affect 2 million mobile map user-base of Google, said Guan Dai, an analyst from research firm In-Stat China to China daily.

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China Daily reported that an SBSM official did not divulge the details for not including the foreign companies in the list, but the bureau is said to be releasing the official list soon.

"Google will hardly be able to get a license (for mapping services). Nor does it have a good chance of getting its ICP (Internet Content Provider) license renewed," Hu Yanping, head of the Data Center of China Internet, told China Daily.

"If Google.cn is completely shut down, the impact will be huge," said another analyst Edward Yu from domestic research firm Analysys International, reported China Daily.

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