14 DAY TRIAL // Google lost a lot of revenue by dropping out from the Chinese market. Apple, on the other hand, made almost $60 billion in China in the last year that ended on September 26.
Apple complies with local Chinese laws, which is why the Cupertino-based company is present in the Mainland. Google pulled its services out of China several years ago after refusing to self-censor its search results.
Gmail, search and Google Play Store are not available in China anymore, which means Google is not present at all on one of the biggest markets in the world.
But that's about to change if we are to believe the latest report coming from Reuters. It looks like sources within Google claim the US-based company plans to launch its Google Play store service in China sometime next year.
Other services like Gmail and search could follow soon
Some sources say Google Play Store may go live in the Mainland immediately after Chinese New Year in February 2016, and before early summer. Another source only states Google Play Store will be launched in China next year.
According to these sources, Google Play Store will be specifically set up for China, which means it will have no connections with versions of Google Play Store services in other regions.
Also, Google will make use of two payment options for its applications store: Alipay, owned by Alibaba Group Holding, and WeChat Payment, which belongs to Tencent Holding.
It appears that Google won't be asking China's government for approval when launching its Google Play Store.
Instead, the company will simply comply with Chinese laws, including those referring to data storage and content filtering.
Google is determined to comply with Chinese laws on filtering content that is now seen as sensitive by the Communist Party. Moreover, Google changed its mind and has decided to store the app store's data within China's territory.