Google China May Get New Homepage

China is the world’s most populous country, so, from a business perspective, pulling out all the stops to impress its citizens makes sense.  And that’s exactly what Google’s doing, as a possible new homepage has come to light.

Google’s well-known simplicity goes straight out the window with this version, which features tabs, animated icons, pictures, and rows upon rows of text.  We’ve seen small adjustments before – animated icons were introduced in Korea – but this is a much bigger departure from traditional Google designs.

What remains to be seen is whether, in the eyes of Chinese users, it’s an improvement.  Last week, Google China performed a moderately ingenious maneuver by claiming G.cn as its own.  It would be a pity to see that work undone, yet Google won’t want to stand still and continue losing to Baidu.

Either way, Philipp Lenssen makes it clear that the “busy” homepage hasn’t yet replaced the traditional one.  When Google will make a decision on the matter remains unknown, though, so we’ll keep an eye on Google China and give you information as it becomes available.