Google Looks to a Cafe Society

Posted on December 28, 2007
Filed Under China Business, China Distribution |

Google China plans to cooperate with Internet cafes in Chengdu to promote Google services, reports West China City Daily quoting Google China president special assistant and strategy officer Guo Quji. The cooperating Internet cafes will set google.com as the homepage on their PCs as well as install the Google toolbar on their cafes’ machines, according to the report.

A very small battlefield in Google’s war with Baidu. Google is effectively bundling its search with internet cafe services. I assume that the deal will include rolling out the Google toolbar on the browsers as well. I have no idea if bundling works, but getting eyeballs on Google is a start.

There’s no word on how many cafes are participating. There may be a regional internet cafe chain in Chengdu, but even if there is I doubt they would dominate the market. Google is probably doing this a handful of cafes at a time. Hardly the way to claw market share from Baidu.