The Google Play Store might be getting some competition from Chinese giants including Huawei and Xiaomi as they create a new platform. This announcement hasn’t had any negative influence on GOOGL stock.
In many sectors all over the world, a few heavy hitters are known to ensure an undesired level of dominance. For most of them, other potential competitors almost don’t stand a chance. However, there’s a chance that efforts from China are taking on the dominance that Google holds, especially with the Google Play Store.
New Efforts to Challenge Google Play Store
According to a Reuters report, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei Technologies, are currently building a joint platform that will serve developers all over the world. The new platform will allow these app developers outside of China to upload their respective creations to all of their app stores.
The new platform is called the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). It intends to support all kinds of apps including games, movies, music and many more.
According to the report, market analysts suggest that the GDSA is aimed at ending the dominance Google has with its Play Store. For specifics, Google reportedly pulled in a total of $8.8 billion from the Play Store last year.
According to an exec at Canalys, the alliance will not only tackle Google but will build on their individual strengths.
“By forming this alliance each company will be looking to leverage the others’ advantages in different regions, with Xiaomi’s strong user base in India, Vivo and Oppo in Southeast Asia, and Huawei in Europe. Secondly, it’s to start to build some more negotiation power against Google.”
GDSA Does Not Intend to Challenge Play Store
Even though market analysts believe that it will tackle Google, it doesn’t seem like the GDSA has that aim. According to a Xiaomi spokesman, the GDSA was not created to compete with Google.
Regardless, the alliance together accounts for more than 40% of all mobile phones sold in the last quarter of 2019. Google is still outlawed in China and has its market elsewhere. However, since the GDSA also is focusing on the market outside of China, some competition with Google might be intended.
Another thing to consider is the Huawei’s involvement. In 2019, Huawei, which had enjoyed support from Google, got banned in the heat of the trade war between the U.S. and China. Since then, the Chinese giant has made significant efforts with developing its own operating system called Harmony OS.
The GDSA
There is a chance that the new alliance will be seen as a breath of fresh air by these developers. This is because they might get a chance to shine more than they would on the Google Play Store. It’s also possible that the GDSA will offer attractive incentives to the developers to win them over. However, there is the fear that an arrangement like this might be tedious to manage, as all four might clash.
However, Google seems to be a strong player in all aspects. Its parent Alphabet (GOOGL) stock is fully in green. Today it is trading around $1480.
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