Five years ago, Google made the tough decision to give up on the Chinese market because of the strict censorships, but it looks like the California-based tech firm found a different angle and is making a comeback. Google is starting with a $300 million investment in Mobvoi, an artificial intelligence startup based in Beijing.
Started by former Google employees CEO Zhifei Li and CTO Mike Lei, Mobvoi is pretty similar to Google in terms of the company's structure as well as innovation, as the Chinese startup goes beyond voice search technology.
Garnering more than two million active users and over 100 data partners, Mobvoi is known for making the Chumen Wenwen app — a mobile Chinese-language voice service comparable to Apple's Siri or Google Now. Considering the complexity and characteristics of the Chinese language, this is an extraordinary feat.
"Mobvoi has developed some very unique speech and natural language processing technologies," Don Harrison, VP of corporate development for Google, said in a statement.
Outside voice technology, Mobvoi produces its own line of smartwatches: Ticwatch. On top of that, the tech firm also developed its own Ticwear operating system for its smartwatches, which pairs nicely with Android Wear and is updated every two weeks.
This isn't the first time Mobvoi has touched upon smartwatches, nor is it the first time the two companies made business. In June, Google and Mobvoi partnered up to bring Android Wear in China, using the startup's voice technology on the Moto 360.
Also, Mobvoi aims to extend its tech to smart cars too, developing an app similar to Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto.
"The mission of the Company is to define next generation of human-machine interaction through consumer products," Mobvoi said on its website.
Despite Android running on almost every smartphone in China, Google and the Chinese government never really got along well, especially since the authorities blocked out Gmail, Google Search and YouTube. On an interesting note, Google plans on producing an app store for Chinese users, much like a Chinese version of the Play Store, but it won't be easy to dominate the market because a ton of popular app stores have been showing up since 2010.
This growing partnership seems to be a sign that Google plans on restoring its business in China.
Photo: Matt Montagne | Flickr
