Exclusive: China's mobile giants to take on Google's Play store - sources

guest · Feb 6, 2020

Exclusive: China's mobile giants to take on Google's Play store - sources
February 6, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...e-on-googles-play-store-sources-idUSKBN20018H

China’s Xiaomi, Huawei Technologies, Oppo and Vivo are joining forces to create a platform for developers outside China to upload apps onto all of their app stores simultaneously, in a move analysts say is meant to challenge the dominance of Google’s Play store.

The four companies are ironing out kinks in what is known as the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). The platform aims to make it easier for developers of games, music, movies and other apps to market their apps in overseas markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
A prototype website says the platform will initially cover nine “regions” including India, Indonesia and Russia.

“By forming this alliance each company will be looking to leverage the others’ advantages in different regions, with Xiaomi’s strong user base in India, Vivo and Oppo in Southeast Asia, and Huawei in Europe,” said Nicole Peng, the VP of Mobility at Canalys.
“Secondly, it’s to start to build some more negotiation power against Google,” she added.
Click to expand...

The GDSA might be able to lure some app developers by providing more exposure than the already-crowded Play store, and the new platform could provide better monetary incentives, analysts said.

“By making it simple for developers to increase their reach across multiple app stores, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi stand to attract more developers and, ultimately, more apps,” said Williams.
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guest · Feb 9, 2020

[Update: Xiaomi’s Statement] Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei are reportedly teaming up to provide a Google Play Store alternative
February 7, 2020
https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-oppo-vivo-huawei-google-play-store-alternative/

Update (2/7/20 @ 1:15 PM ET): Xiaomi has released a statement (below) to clarify the intentions of the Play Store alternative.

Xiaomi’s statement:

“The Global Developer Service Alliance solely serves to facilitate the uploading of apps by developers to respective app stores of Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo simultaneously. There’s no competing interest between this service and Google Play Store.”
The important message here is that Xiaomi and others are not trying to “compete” with the Google Play Store. The goal of the Global Developer Service Alliance is to make it much simpler for developers to upload apps to the bevy of app markets in China.

The current app market situation in China is very fragmented. Since there is no Play Store, nearly every OEM and major company maintains its own app market.
The Global Developer Service Alliance would make it so non-Chinese developers only have two app markets to worry about: the Play Store and this new initiative.
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guest · Feb 9, 2020

Don’t underestimate the Chinese app store alliance
February 8, 2020
https://www.androidauthority.com/dont-underestimate-the-chinese-app-store-alliance-1081674/

The Big Four get together
The initiative is called, pompously, the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). For now, it’s meant to offer a single platform for developers to upload their apps that would then be shared across the app stores maintained by Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.
For these powerful players to band together, they must be highly motivated.
Nothing to see here?
Out of the four brands, only Xiaomi gave out a brief statement on GDSA.
The GDSA’s website openly says its ambitions go beyond just a unified upload system for OEM app stores. The group states it will provide “one-stop services including content distribution, development support, marketing operation, brand promotion and traffic monetization to global developers.”

Right now, the GDSA is just a half-baked website, wrapped into some speculation based on one unconfirmed news report. But I don’t think it will stay like that for long.
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Final thoughts
I may be wrong about GDSA. Perhaps it’s not the threat to the Play Store that I envision it to be. But I do think Chinese companies will eventually try to build their own mobile platform. After the Huawei ban, they can no longer take Google for granted.
If they succeed, the danger is the Android ecosystem could become even more fragmented. The consequences are hard to predict.

The risk is Chinese companies will export the Google-free model they’ve employed in their home market to other countries. A future where the world is split into technological spheres of influence is conceivable.
Click to expand...

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