Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA) to bolster Chinese app stores
A report from Reuters state that Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, and Vivo are forming the GDSA to make their respective app stores competitive vs Google Play Store. To be completely clear, the alliance’s goal is not to create a centralized app store but to make it easier for developers to spread their apps across different regions. Xiaomi even clarified that it has “no interest” in competing with Play Store. While earlier reports claim Huawei is included in the talks, a Xiaomi spokesperson clarified that they are not involved.
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.
Huawei is still in the middle of a trade ban from the US. Even though talks may have stalled now, the Chinese company said that it has no intention of relying on Google’s app and services even after the said ban. With this news, we feel like Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO have something to fall back to in case a trade ban happens in the future. This might also mean Chinese phones ditching Google Play Store for good. Regardless, expect more apps to be supported by third-party app stores in the future.
READ: Chinese Smartphone Manufacturers Dominate Global Market Share Despite Huawei Ban
