Google Inc announced yesterday that it has begun recruiting local engineers for its local research and development [R&D] center which opened at the end of last month to boost the Internet search giant's presence in the region.
"We hope to integrate Taiwan's advantages and Google's powerful software technology and innovative culture to create world-class products," Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), engineering director of the Google Taiwan R&D Center, said at a press conference yesterday.
Taiwanese advantages
Taiwan's Chinese data processing abilities, advanced capability in hardware development, mature communications environment, wide range of Internet applications and highly educated professionals were the factors which had prompted the world's largest Internet portal to set up its 12th overseas R&D center here, Chien said.
Chien said that the company had not placed any limits on how many employees it would recruit for the Google Taiwan R&D Center, and would net as many talented individuals as possible through a strict screening process. The local team would focus on developing search-related products catering to both local and international demand, he said.
Google will hold several recruiting seminars at National Taiwan University, Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University this week.
Providing localized services is one major task for the center, but the market is dominated by rival Yahoo-Kimo Inc (
In addition to offering search functions, Yahoo-Kimo runs the nation's largest online auction site and is a major portal for online shopping stores, communities and music stores. The site also serves as an information center that provides local stock market quotes, news and other data and has secured a massive number of local users.
Localization
"Localization is key for multinational companies to succeed in foreign markets," Rose Tsou (
Yahoo-Kimo also snatched a piece of the online search advertising market after it acquired Overture Services Inc in 2003, a company which places advertisers' names or products at the top of search results lists as "sponsored results."
Responding to a question on how Google plans to compete with Yahoo-Kimo, Lee Kai-fu (
User feedback suggested that the priority was for Google to create a friendly interface, Lee said. Unlike Yahoo-Kimo, Google would not enter the sponsored search result business, Lee said, as this would influence search precision.
Chien used the key word "NTU" as an example of how Google had already localized its various search portals. If you typed "NTU" into Taiwan's Google page, the result would be "National Taiwan University," while the same key word in Singapore would point to Nanyang Technological University, Chien said.
Providing Google services on mobile devices was a potential growth area in Taiwan, Lee said, given the large number of mobile phone users here. However, content, interface and bandwidth limitations would have to be overcome, and different users' habits would have to be taken into account, he said.
Meanwhile, Lee denied speculation that Google would release a Web-based operating system, saying the company would not develop the product "unless it was needed."
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