Google's quit sets to hit booming Internet market
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Google Inc's decision yesterday to shut its Chinese mainland Website and pull out from the market will unsettle the domestic dot-com sector, telecommunications industry and also has an negative impact on the Internet giant itself, industrial officials and analysts said yesterday.
"It will hit the booming Chinese Internet search market," said Li Zhi, an analyst at Analysys International, a Beijing-based Internet consulting firm.
"However, Baidu is not likely to become the biggest winner as smaller search engine providers, including Sogou and Tencent Soso, may also take this opportunity to enhance their position in the industry," she added.
Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search provider, is one of the two major Internet search players in the Chinese market, with more than 300 million Internet users. Domestic rival Baidu.com will probably dominate the domestic market following Google's move, analysts said.
"Competition is necessary to fuel market development but now the Chinese search market lacks it, at least in the short term," said Li.
IT commentator Xie Wen is worried that Google's withdrawal may cause Baidu to "focus less on providing creative products for its users after it gains the leading position in the market, and instead it will pay more attention to boosting sales."
