China vs Google

I ran across this article about how the Baidu map app in China guided a dying student to a private hospitals.

hmm... does this mean someone gave someone a little gift under the table to change the app's advice?

Well, like Google, they auction off key words used in searches.



Baidu map apps are the Chinese language equivalent to Google maps, the they are trying to take over the world from google.

Wikipedia article on Baidu

Newsweek article discusses

China’s largest mobile map service has expanded its coverage to Europe and the rest of the world in a partnership with Here, a mapping company formerly known as Nokia Maps, in a move that could challenge the global dominance of Google Maps as the most popular online map. Beijing-based search giant Baidu, sometimes referred to as the Google of China, will launch Baidu Maps in more than 150 countries, providing services for 99 percent of the world’s population. Here was rebranded in 2015 after it was sold to a consortium of German car manufacturers that included Audi and BMW.

the irony is that Google is kept out of China, but hey, China can not only get their own monopolies going but arrange with others to spread their form of technology everywhere.

Can you say "monopoly" or "illegal trading practices" people?

But they do have competition, from AliBaba, the "ebay/amazon" company of China.

the t article notes that some people in China are switching to Ali Baba's Gaode map app.

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Also what caught my eye was that there are actually private hospitals in Socialist China. Hmmm...

Putian group of hospitals are described in this article.

they started with a Chinese medical practitioner who found treatment for scabies, and gradually expanded in a very capitalistic fashion.
The private hospitals founded by Putian residents do share some characteristics. They tend to target treatments that have higher margins and that can be performed at relatively lower risk. Fertility treatment, plastic surgery and dental care are popular. More importantly, these sectors aren’t normally included under the national medical insurance system, so patients tend to choose private hospitals that specialise in these categories.

According to Bain, the consultancy, China’s healthcare industry will more than triple to $900 billion by 2020 from $275 billion four years ago. The central government also wants more private capital in the sector to increase the supply of medical services.

Private hospitals could also help with the reform of public hospitals by increasing competition. In April, the State Council gave private hospitals the right to set prices for treatments that had previously been government-controlled.

something to remember when you read about the wonderfulness of single party payer medical plans run by the government.