Google makes as much as 30% in commissions off of developers who publish their apps on its Play Store. Their platform mostly remains unchallenged. But that might be about to change now that a handful of first-tier Chinese smartphone brands are joining forces to take on Google Play Store, says a report by Reuters.
The report further details that the alliance, dubbed, the Global Developer Alliance, or GDSA, has four partners so far: Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo. As per the official documentation found on SlashLeaks, the alliance intends to offer “one-stop services including content distribution, development support, marketing operation, brand promotion and traffic monetization to global developers.”
But more to the point, these Chinese manufacturers wish to seek an alternative to relying on Google’s services for their UIs. Huawei needs a way out of the U.S. trade ban, but since it doesn’t seem to be resolving itself in the near future, it needs to keep its sales from plummeting. This alliance could be the answer Huawei is looking for. These China-based manufacturers won’t be dependent on the Google Play Store, but they’ll also be introducing a competitor.
These four OEMs already make 40% of the world’s smartphone sales as of 2019, and GDSA will let users access app stores of all four brands while simultaneously exposing Android developers to millions (perhaps even billions) of potential customers.
Devs will only have to publish their app once on a store, and GDSA will post it on the remaining three app stores as well. In an attempt to truly create a Play Store alternative, the GDSA platform will support movies, TV, and music downloads as well.
The platform is expected to online in March, and it will be available in nine Asian countries, like India, China, Russia, and Malaysia.