They earned the respect of many people, who are used to continually seeing corporations sell out their values for profits.
Getting out of potentially the biggest market in the world because of incompatible values = courage. As opposed to removing a headphone jack from a phone.
I do respect Google for pulling out - this was actually the last time Google actually really tried to "don't be evil". Since then, they've thrown that overboard. But that one time, they did it.
The problem is that the outcome was worse than remaining there. That was a lack of wisdom on Google's part.
Apple could pull out, lose Billions of dollars and a hundred million users, Chinese wouldn't be able to get their hands on iPhones, and Samsung, Meizu, Huawei, and so on would be having a field day selling their government-approved devices, which, in terms of privacy, are infinitely worse than iPhones.
Apple is actually implementing some pretty serious privacy features, like end to end encryption in iMessage and so on.
Google would have lost to Baidu regardless and don't think for a second this wasn't factored in their decision.
The Chinese are known for degrading the online experience of western services in preference for local alternatives. This coupled with the fact that Baidu really is better for the Chinese market, just how Yandex has been better for the Russian market.
> Apple is actually implementing some pretty serious privacy features, like end to end encryption in iMessage and so on.
The end to end encryption in iMessage is shit because Apple is managing the encryption keys and if your adversary is the Chinese government you'll get fucked given Apple's newfound willingness to bend over.
Google was also doing terribly business wise in China, its revenue was a small and it was losing the search war against local giants like Baidu anyway.
It wasn't much of a courageous move but more so of a smooth PR move.
By exiting China, Chinese companies got the chance to actual grow and develop its talent pool. almost 10 years on, now 4 of the top 10 internet companies in the world are Chinese companies providing huge number of high paying highly skilled jobs to Chinese.
feel free to compare what Europe and Japan managed to get in the last decade in terms of Internet based economy.
The blocking of Google.cn was more than just Search. YouTube, Drive, Gmail, Google Play, Maps, etc are all blocked. In 2010, Google and Amazon had an enormous advantage over BAT and if there was complete freedom, they would have taken substantially more of a chunk of services.
This is not a localization issue. Google has 86% marketshare in Hong Kong and 91% in Taiwan. Search and hosting services localize easily.
Google gave up an enormous opportunity by not being willing to kowtow to the standard practice of handing over half your company in a joint venture or adopting political control over information. If you look at the valuations of BAT, it was a substantial opportunity cost. But it was the right thing to do.
the name of your favourite search engine google can not even be spelt by most Chinese, out of their market share of 15%, many had to use baidu to search for the address of google to get there.
amazon never engaged in any real competition in China, it was ebay that lost the entire market because ebay was focusing on protecting buyers when taobao.com chose to better serve and protect sellers.
High market share in Hong Kong and Taiwan? Well, how many local internet companies are there in those two places? How many qualified software engineers they have locally produced?
You can keep worship google, the truth that you can never deny is that 10 years after google's exit, China's internet sector is more active and profitable than ever before with almost half of the the world top 10 Internet companies being Chinese. That brings huge number of both well paid and highly skilled jobs for Chinese. Such kind of personal freedom surely is not something you support.
The rest of your message seems bizarrely nationalistic. How many engineers has Taiwan produced? I don't see how that's relevant to Google's market share, but Taiwan has a thriving tech economy, and TSMC is one of the world leaders in semiconductor fabrication.
I get it, you want Google banned from China because you don't want domestic Chinese companies to face free and fair competition. Great, that's a perfectly fine position to have, just don't act like Google didn't pull out of China because of interference by the government and that Baidu won because of superior quality. It was not a purely market driven decision and you know it. Also, don't complain if China is eventually punished by the WTO for trade protectionism, or if Western countries start punishing Chinese companies. It's already started: Huawei for example. The world might have been willing to overlook it when China was less well developed, but now there's no excuse for it.
Is that nationalistic?
Now let's look at your ~30% marketshare claims - you intentionally refused to mentioned the fact that Baidu had its market share increased from 40% to 64% in the same period when google peaked in 2010 - baidu had bigger market share and even bigger market share growth. That is a typical sign of google losing the competition - winner takes all is the rule of the Internet, it is the rule served google so well in all other markets, it is the rule that helped google to completely wipe out yahoo search and bing.
https://www.forbes.com/2010/01/15/baidu-china-search-intelli...
learn to grow up.
If Baidu was already winning, then there's no need to block Google for competitive reasons, is there?
You seem to be arguing that Google was hurting the development of domestic talent, and then also arguing Baidu was going to win anyway. If so, why the need for protectionism then?
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15145176
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/may/15/google-ad...
[3] https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locatio...
Such "why don't they..." questions represent a logical fallacy.
In the US and Europe we can fight against censorship by lobbying, by getting the word out, etc. Yes, we have surveillance and are not winning every fight, but we still have rights, we still have freedom of speech and we still have the framework of the law to work in and politicians are still subject to the rules of democracy.
In China on the other hand the whims of the ruling party reign supreme and before you open your mouth to say anything, I'll have you know that I'm a citizen of Romania, a former Communist country from the Warsaw Pact and I know communism ;-)
And yes, Google has my respect for making a stand against Chinese censorship, regardless of your opinions about them.
Five eyes are not only in Europe.
Quitting your country of origin makes sense if you are those companies that claim to be friend of justice who also want to gain your people's respect. And Google is a multinational enterprise who loves tax havens very much.[1]
Oh yes, the lobbying. How is the net neutrality thing going by the way? Has NSA/CIA/FBI stopped what they've being doing? Last time I heard about FBI is Apple opposes putting backdoor in their products. Apparently they didn't stop, yet they are seeking for some kind of power expanding. I hope your sense of superiority didn't come from "we are better than the worst."
Voters and politicians accuse Russia group for buying commercials. Companies like Google/Facebook are censoring terrorism videos/hate speech/fake news they (not people) don't like. Why would they do such thing if they are so confident with freedom of speech? Yes, the government won't do many things to you because of the definition of freedom of speech, just like what Aaron Swartz said[2], the power of censorship is holding by private sectors, their policies can be transparent or shady whenever they want, to gain support from general people. Being open is part of their PR, not because there's law to force them.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailtracy/2016/02/19/google-...
[2] https://www.wired.com/2013/04/aaron-swartz-interview/
edit: added links
I'm glad you asked. Net neutrality is being debated in the open and there are good arguments against it that haven't been addressed.
Given that I live in a European country where competition in this space is really high, with high speed Internet / 4G connections being available for cheap, with plenty pro-consumer EU regulations already in place, I'm actually against net neutrality.
But the important thing for me though is that I can voice my opinions for or against it without fearing the government will rain down on me or my family. Last week and the week before that I was on the streets, participating in a public protest against our current government, because I can.
Again, those who haven't lived in a totalitarian state and haven't had grandparents or parents persecuted by the state for thinking thoughts against the regime, those people don't know what they are talking about. Imagine living in fear of reprisals just for listening to the former Radio Free Europe, which is what communism gives you.
> I hope your sense of superiority didn't come from "we are better than the worst."
No, my sense of superiority comes from facts and history.