Uncertain about how Google’s dispute with China will be resolved, technology partners who license Google’s search and other online services are making contingency plans for the Chinese market.
Given the robust growth of China’s mobile marketplace, it’s no surprise that handset vendors are at the front of the queue. Motorola, which licenses Google Android and offers other Google services on its new smartphones, established a search partnership with Baidu earlier this year and now it’s added one with Microsoft, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Pursuant to terms of the deal, Motorola will offer Microsoft’s Bing search and map capabilities on its smartphones in China beginning this quarter.
When Google first devised its strategy for Android, I’m sure it didn’t envision a future in which its handset partners bundled Bing as their mobile search engine. Then again, I’m sure Google didn’t anticipate that its relationship with China would become so strained.
