Motorola drops Google from Chinese phone

Motorola, the handset maker rebuilding its mobile-phone business around Google's Android software, has dropped the US internet company's search engine from one of its Android phones in China.

Motorola no longer includes Google's search engine in its Zhishang device shipped to China Telecom, David Wolf, acting head of public relations for Asia at the handset maker said yesterday.

Google's decision to stop censoring its Chinese service may lead some companies to switch to rivals, such as Baidu, operator of China's biggest internet search engine. Motorola is adding Baidu as an option on Android phones sold in the country, and this month said Microsoft Bing search and maps service will be preloaded on to its China phones.

"If you were partnering with Google in China, your business plans have just fallen apart," said Bertram Lai, head of research at CIMB-GK Securities in Hong Kong. "You need to scramble and find new partners."

None of Motorola's four Android phones in China carries Google's search engine as it's not available for licence there, Motorola spokeswoman Kathy Van Buskirk said.

China Unicom yesterday said it didn't use Google search on its phones, after billionaire Li Ka-shing's Tom Online said it stopped using the US firm's link on its portal. Unicom, China's second-biggest wireless carrier, works only with companies that abide by Chinese law, its president Lu Yimin said.

Google, which has partnerships with China Mobile and Sina, said this week it began routing China-based subscribers to an unfiltered search service on its Hong Kong site, following through on a January 12 statement to end self-censorship of its Google.cn portal.

- BLOOMBERG