China Mobile Profits From the Google Void

At the Temple of the God of the Capital in Beijing, Gao Puer sits on a bench under a tree playing poker on his Lenovo touchscreen smartphone. “I use my phone to download maps and e-books, too,” says the electrical engineer. “Most of the apps I get are free, but some of the games are worth it to pay a few yuan.” A few blocks away, Wei Xinping kills time while waiting for his girlfriend by playing Angry Birds on a handset made by Huawei Technologies. “I like to relax after work or on the weekends,” says the banker.

Both gadgets are powered by Google’s Android operating system, but the apps come from China Mobile. And therein lies a painful dilemma for Google. Android runs two-thirds of the smartphones sold in the world’s biggest Internet market, yet the company’s online app store, Google Play, isn’t open for business in China. Google sharply scaled back its presence on the mainland in 2010 after tussling with China’s censors. Taj Meadows, a Tokyo-based spokesman, declined to comment on why Google Play is still unavailable in China.