At stake for Google in China: Smart phone empire

In its public wrangling with the Chinese government, Google not only risks losing access to millions of personal computers in China but also its toehold in the world's largest cellphone market.

The American Internet giant has been providing handset manufacturers its Android operating system for free in hopes of penetrating a country where, soon, more people are expected to access the Internet on mobile phones than on desktop computers. Although it is a distant second on computer searches, Google is nearly tied for first with Baidu Inc. for market share in China's nascent mobile-search sector. But the company's ambitions are in jeopardy now that Google has raised the ire of Beijing by redirecting Internet users in China on Tuesday to an uncensored search engine in Hong Kong. Analysts say the Chinese government could pressure partners to sever ties with the company. And Google has acknowledged the possibility that its products could be blocked any day by censors.