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Samsung phones will get third Android App Store in India
PhonePe, a Walmart-backed digital payment platform, is preparing to launch a dedicated App Store for Android users in India. It will be the third app store on Samsung Galaxy smartphones after pre-installed Google Play and Galaxy Store.
Alleged development evidence suggests that PhonePe Android App Store will be designed to offer hyper-localized services based on customer context in India, and aims to assist developers with “high-quality” user acquisition through multilingual solutions.
Walmart-backed company’s App Store will offer “premiere experience for millions of users with high-quality advertisements and custom targeting,” support for 12 languages, and 24×7 live chat. To enter the market, PhonePe reportedly collaborated with Bengaluru-headquartered startup acquiring IndusOS.
“Google commands 97% of the Indian app store market and there’s an opportunity for someone like PhonePe, which has amassed over 450 million registered users in the country, to build an alternative app store that is “more localized not just from a language perspective but also from a discovery and consumer interest perspective,” said a PhonePe spokesperson to TechCrunch.
Development is a thing, but the distribution of the App Store itself is the biggest concern. On this matter, PhonePe confirmed that it’s in talks with phone makers in India and said “everyone is very receptive, especially since CCI has clarified that Google cannot engage in anti-competitive practices.”
“All the OEMs are excited about PhonePe building out a localised App store for the Indian market. We expect to be live on all Android OEMs within the first few months of launch. We have already closed terms with one of the largest OEMs and are trying to get the others rapidly onboard over the next couple of months.”