PhonePe, the Walmart-owned online payment platform, is set to launch its own mobile app store in India soon. This homegrown Android app called Indus Appstore will be available to customers by the end of this month. Apart from English, this new app store will provide services to customers in a total of 12 Indian languages. Note that Google and Apple’s app stores charge a commission of 15 percent to 25 percent for in-app purchases in addition to various charges. However, this new app store has announced that it will provide this service without any commission. Hence, it is expected that PhonePe’s new app store will soon disrupt Google’s monopoly.
This app store will be launched in India on February 13. Several reputed companies have already listed their apps on Indus Appstore. Among them are several brand names like Flipkart, Ixigo, Domino’s Pizza, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Snapdeal, Geomart, Bajaj Finserv, TOI, and WOW Skincare. In addition, the Appstore also invites game developers like A23 Rummy, Games Craft, Dream 11, Rummy Payson and Nazara Technologies.
The launch of Indus Appstore comes almost four months after the digital payments company opened its app marketplace to Android developers. And then PhonePe directly challenged the Google Play Store by offering the app store in regional languages to India’s one billion smartphone users.
It should be noted that currently Google is at the top by occupying about 95 percent market share in the country. And Apple’s iOS has very little market share.
