China’s Android smartphone giants said to take on Google Play app store
- Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are said to be creating a new app distribution platform called the Global Developer Service Alliance
- Combined handset shipments of the four companies made up 40.1 per cent of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of last year
Chinese Android smartphone giants Huawei Technologies, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi Corp are joining forces to create a new platform for overseas developers to distribute apps onto all of their online stores simultaneously, in a move analysts said is meant to challenge the dominance of Google Play.
The four technology companies are ironing out kinks in what is known as the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). This platform aims to make it easier for developers of games, music, movies and other apps for Android smartphones to expand in markets around the world, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The GDSA was initially targeted to launch in March, although it is not clear how that will be affected by the coronavirus outbreak, the sources said.
A prototype website said the platform will initially cover nine “regions”, including India, Indonesia and Russia.
All four major Chinese smartphone vendors declined to comment for this story. Oppo and Vivo are both owned by Chinese manufacturer BBK Electronics.
Internet search powerhouse Google, whose services are banned in China, earned about US$8.8 billion globally from Google Play – the official app store for the Android operating system – in 2019, said Katie Williams, an analyst at Sensor Tower.