Huawei is said to be in the advanced stage of a deal with IndusOS to act as a replacement to Google Media Service (GMS), which it is forbidden to use.
App Bazaar by Indus OS is one of the biggest alternate app stores in India, with over 60 million users. It has a selection of over 4,00,000 apps in regional languages and is also the fastest-growing content marketplace. It also offers options such as custom targetting and monetization to developers.
For Huawei, Indus OS could be its saving grace in India. Last Summer, Huawei Business group was put on the Entity List, disallowing American companies to continue having trade relations with it. It said that Google had to revoke its Android license from them, leaving Huawei at the mercy of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). It meant that no future Huawei or Honor smartphone will have access to the Play Store or GMS, and will have to rely on third-party developers to bring their apps to Huawei.
The App Bazaar is no small entity. In fact, Samsung’s VC arm is one of the most prominent investors in the company. Understandably, it also powers the Galaxy App store and is also the default app marketplace for other smartphone manufacturers such as Micromax and Celkon. The initial deal will be for the Indian market, but an option to take the partnership global is also being explored as Huawei continues to face app issues around the world.
Fixing app woes
It isn’t Huawei’s first step in reducing its reliance on Google services. Just a month ago, news broke out that it will be partnering with Xiaomi and the BBK group to create a Play store alternative of sorts. Named as the Global Developer Service Alliance, it will be creating a new space for developers to offer their apps, games, movies, music, and other services.
The top 150 Indian app developers are also being brought on board for its app store, called the Huawei Media Services, with incentives going all the way up to $17,000.
Huawei, as well as Honor, have slowed down globally, with the Indian market yet to see any of the new smartphones that were launched after the trade ban implications came into place. With time against it, a partnership with Indus OS might just be the patch Huawei needed to get back in the race.
Via ET Telecom
