UPDATE: Google To Continue To Invest In China; Sets Sights On SE Asia

Wall Street Journal | January 26, 2011 | Yun-Hee Kim
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–More than a year after Google Inc. threatened to pull out of China, throwing into doubt its growth plans in the world’s biggest Internet market, the U.S. search giant says it remains committed to the country even as it now sets its sights on Southeast Asia for further growth.
In line with its strategy to expand in Southeast Asia, Google said Wednesday it is opening a new office in Kuala Lumpur, its first new Asia office in four years, after the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant set up offices in Singapore and South Korea in 2007.
“We’re seeing a tremendous amount of growth in Southeast Asia,” Daniel Alegre, president, Japan and Asia-Pacific operations, told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
Malaysia “has very high mobile penetration???and most of the Internet users that are coming online will probably start to interact with the Internet through mobile phones rather than PCs.”
The country’s Internet penetration is around 60% and mobile penetration is more than 100%, meaning almost everyone carries one cellphone or more in the country to conduct their telecommunications.
Google’s move to open a new office in Malaysia comes just a year after its dispute with China over censorship of search results. The firm’s share of revenue in China’s online search market extended its slide in the fourth quarter, falling to 19.6% from 21.6% in the third quarter and a peak of 35.6% in the last three months of 2009, according to Beijing research firm Analysys International. Rival local search giant Baidu Inc.’s market share rose to 75.5% from 73% in the third quarter, compared with 58.4% in the last three months of 2009, according to Analysys.
….
Read full article here via Wall Street Journal