Tomahawk, WI 11/07/2013 (BasicsMedia) – Eric Schmidt, the Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) chairman has been in China twice lately and its emerging that the search engine company could be eying the lucrative China gadget market. The chairman visited China late last week and he had made another stop to the Asian country early this year. In the two visits, the Google leader toured several smartphone markets including Xiaomi.

China is a very attractive market for any company with dreams in the smartphone industry and Google seems to have seen this already. The Asian nation is expected to overtake America next year as the world’s largest smartphone market. Smartphone makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronic are already doing brisk business in the market. The countries homegrown smartphone makers Xiaomi and ZTE are also competing fairly with foreign multinationals.

Google could be seeking strategic partners in China

The Chinese government encourages foreign companies to invest in the country through local companies. This being the position, and China being a promising gadget market, Google is seen courting local smartphone makers and Xiaomi looks to be very much in its cards. Google has a lot of connections with this Chinese smartphone maker which looks poised to be China’s homegrown Apple Inc. Two of Google former employees now work with the company and when Google chairman Schmidt visited the country in January and last week, they were part of his entourage.

It should be recalled that Google’s growing interest comes nearly three years after the company shut its China search service following a spat with Beijing. The spat revolved around self-censorship policy but the two sides could not agree. However, gadget business seems less controversial and Google would be more than welcome to invest in China. Given its heavy financial muscle, Google has the potential of being a game-change if it enters the Chinese gadget market. The company already has its Nexus device and highly stories Google Glasses which are expected soon among the devices it would be interested to launch in China’s smart hardware market.

Investors should also not that entry of Google into China would be just an extension of its business in the nation. Already the cheap smartphones manufactured by the likes of Lenovo, Coopad, ZTE and Xiaomi run on Google Android platform.

Launching its line of smart hardware in China will be a huge success for Google. And the most viable approach would be partnership with now seemingly close associate Xiaomi. Google’s Nexus needs a very competitive edge to take on established smart hardware makers Samsung and Apple. A launch in China and global roll out would ensure that competitive edge.

China is importance for global tech powerhouses

That China is back in Google’s investment radar cannot be overemphasized with the likely deal with Xiaomi for its hardware business. The challenge is that every global tech powerhouse sees China as a promise and this means that Google would face a run for its money in going up the Chinese smartphone or smart hardware market. However, Google has what it takes to face that competition to entrench itself in the China’s smart devices market.
