" If a player like Coc Coc came in, or Baidu, and said `hey were are perfectly happy to filter whatever you want us to filter' and in return they would get preferential treatment from the government, that could put Google in very tough spot," he said.īut there is so far no sign that Coc Coc is prepared to play the role of Hanoi's favourite Internet son. While not as close as they once were, Russia and Vietnam have a special relationship because of their shared ideological history. Patrick Sharbaugh, a lecturer in Asian Internet studies at RMIT International University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, wondered whether Coc Coc might be more willing to censor search results on behalf of the government, something Chinese search engine Baidu does for Beijing. "But after living here for one year, I understand the language and market much more deeply. " When I came here, I had some understanding why Vietnam was a good market to beat Google," said Mikhail Kostin, the company's chief search expert and like others in Coc Coc, a veteran at Russia's largest Internet company, Mail.Ru.
According to Coc Coc's founders, its investors have $100 million over the next five years to try and get a chunk of the 97 percent of Vietnamese web surfers who currently use Google to switch. The company has so far spent $10 million, hired 300 staff - including 30 foreigners, mostly Russians - and spread itself out over four floors of a downtown office block in the Vietnamese capital. And unlike other past hopefuls, Coc Coc is not short of cash. Coc Coc, a Vietnamese alternative to GoogleĬoc Coc also flags another possible vulnerability: Google has no office or staff in Vietnam.
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