Google appears ready to return to China, in talks with China

Google is in talks with the Chinese authorities and manufacturers of smartphones on the opening of an online store in China stocked with applications for mobile devices with Android, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The move would mark a change in the Internet firm US, which moved its online search service to Hong Kong to China in 2010 after a cyber attack aimed at users of Gmail and a clash over censorship.

Many Google services, like its free email service Gmail, are blocked in China.

Google backed Android the most smart phones in the world powers and is freely available to device manufacturers in China and elsewhere.

Manufacturers like Xiaomi customize your own version of Android, while Baidu and other Internet players in China stores run applications that do not share income with Google, according to the Journal.

Opening a virtual store Google Play digital content, approved by the Chinese government and pre-installed on smartphones powered by a licensed version of Android would be a remedy for this situation.

Google has been working on the project for over a year and expected to have the application store in China in new smartphones later this year, according to a source quoted by the newspaper.

Google did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.