Despite the availability of several third-party play stores for Android, most users prefer sticking to Google Play. This is largely owing to the popularity and safety of the Play Store. However, that may soon change as PhonePe has unveiled a new app store, named Indus Appstore. This is being touted as a Made-in-India alternative to Google Play and the best thing is it has a zero-fee usage policy.
PhonePe has said apps on its indigenous Appstore will support 12 languages to make it ideal for people in various states of India. The native app stores of Google and Apple are popular but they also draw flaks for imposing fees on users and developers. There are app subscription commissions and in-app buying charges that put off many users. PhonePe, backed by Walmart, wants to woo away the disgruntled Android users.
As per the updates, the upcoming Indus Appstore will offer app listing for it free for 1 year and after that, the annual fee will be nominal. The Indus Appstore reportedly will not impose platform fees on developers. They will be able to pick their preferred payment gateway for their apps. The Appstore will also come with a handy 'Launch Pad' feature that new developers can utilize.
This home-grown app store by PhonePe will face tough competition from Google, as the latter’s App Store has over 35 lakh apps and enjoys huge popularity in India, despite its shortcomings. There are other segment rivals like Samsung Galaxy Store, Paytm Mini App Store, etc.
