Financial services and digital payments company PhonePe is all set to launch a dedicated app store for Android users in India. The Indian fintech giant gives the latest product push that has all command over the mobile payments market in India.
The PhonePe app store is designed to offer the most localised services. It is completely based on customer context. And it aims to help developers with good-quality user acquisition. This shall be through multilingual solutions. This news came according to an internal company document as reviewed by TechCrunch.
So, PhonePe is now entering the app store market. However, it is still many weeks away. The Indian fintech giant is a Bengaluru-headquartered startup. It had acquired app store maker IndusOS which served customers via partnerships with smartphone vendors.
PhonePe is the most valuable Indian fintech startup. It competes heavily with the Google Pay app of Google in India. It plans to strengthen its communication with smartphone vendors. This shall include firms like Xiaomi.
The PhonePe app store will offer a premiere experience for several millions of users. This will be with high-quality advertisements and also sales targeting. Also, the document said that it will have support for twelve languages and 24×7 live chat.
Building an app store was one of the major long-term focuses for PhonePe. It has offered a mini app store within its marquee app for many years. It held the view that consumers do not always like to download multiple numbers of apps on their phones.
PhonePe has raised $ 750 million from Walmart, General Atlantic, and Tiger Global. This is, among others, part of a funding round this present year.
Google commands 97 per cent of the Indian app store market. And, there is a good market opportunity for PhonePe. PhonePe has amassed more than 450 million registered users in India. This is to create an alternative app store that is better localized. The alternative app store shall not just be from the perspective of a language but also a perspective of discovery and consumer interest.
The Indian fintech giant said that the timing is favourable for them. The firm said this pointing to a recent order from the Competition Commission of India (Indian anti-trust watchdog) for app stores on Google Play. The CCI paves the way for other developers. This is to build and also launch their app stores on Google Play. However, a tribunal court gave some relief to Google.
PhonePe also confirmed holding several conversations with phone makers in the country. The Indian fintech giant said everyone is receptive, and the Competition Commission of India clarified that Google would not engage in anti-competitive practices.
All the OEMs are now excited about PhonePe building a localized App store for the market in India. They expect to go live on all Android OEMs within the 1st some months of launch. They have already closed terms with one of the largest OEMs. And they are trying to get the others onboard fast over the next few months.
PhonePe also entered the e-commerce sector recently. It separated from its parent company Flipkart last year.
