SINGAPORE: Internet giant Google is in talks to open a research and development centre in Singapore.

This was among the initiatives revealed on Thursday as Google officially opened its office here.

Google innovations such as Google Earth - an application which allows you to roam all over the planet with just a couple of clicks – could soon be developed in Singapore.

"The first aim is to localise products and services to make sure they're very locally relevant and the second aim is to do innovation and to literally innovate new products and services into our global platform. So we'll be developing unique applications here in Singapore," says Richard Kimber, Regional Managing Director, India & SEA, Google.

Apart from talks with the Singapore government to open an R&D centre here, Google is also in negotiations with regional telcos such as Celcom and AIS to launch its search engine on the mobile platform.

"We realise there's a great opportunity here not only with internet users but there are about 119 million mobile phone users…We're going to bring the ability to search on mobile for Google and then at some point, maybe advertising opportunities," says Lori Sobel, Head of Sales, Google Singapore.

Google believes that there will be a resurgence of online advertising in this region - very much like in the West.

And it expects to see a jump of some 28 per cent by 2008.

It notes however that it can't use a one size fits all strategy for Asia.

"In Indonesia we're seeing the growth of mobile activity as people [are] coming online. In other markets like Thailand we're seeing a lot of advertisers embracing search marketing. So there are a lot of different [complexities] to all the Asian markets," says Kimber.

Google did not give any financial details about its plans for Asia - or any revenue projections - but it says it will continue to invest in the region. - CNA/yy