Despite a contradicting report made by The Wall Street Journal, a source who’s more familiar with the issue said that the Android Market will not be making its way to China anytime in the near future. It was just last week when The Journal reported that Google had a goal of bringing the Android Market into the country, thus they are pursuing partnerships with the local carriers who would like to offer the app store on their devices. However, an unnamed source mentioned by InsideMobileApps disclosed that ‘such a move is still in the exploratory phase and isn’t as far along as the Journal suggests.’

One of the reasons why this isn’t happening, is because of its own regulatory environment. China does its best to screen different processes, which is why they have a strict market. Because of the government censors that exist in China, apps will need to go through a strict review process. This is why it will need more than the commonplace 30% revenue share which mobile platforms take from developers.

Considering the Android market is made up of an open-source platform where developers can easily launch their apps, it will cause an issue with the censorship the government of China needs to go through.  This is why if Google wants to launch Android Market in the country, they will have to change their review process in general. Moreover, companies who wish to operate online games in the country have to obtain several licenses from the Ministry of Culture, among many other agencies. Not to mention, they are very careful about the words used in such environments; just like in the case of Plants vs. Zombies (with Zombies being a scary thought to the Chinese) and the conept of time travel in TV dramas.