QQ Browser App Goes Global, Now In the Getjar App Store

Tencent (HKG:0700), the Chinese social media giant, is taking its QQ Browser app global having signed a deal with the American third-party Android app store, Getjar. Right now, QQ Browser is being heavily promoted on the Getjar frontpage – on both desktop and mobile – and has already amassed over three million downloads. This Android international version now supports three-languages: English, Indonesian, and Hindi.

QQ Browser for iPhone and Android is cloud-powered – as emphasised by its icon – and states that by unloading the compacting of images via its own web servers, it can save users a great deal of time and 2G or 3G data. In fact, Tencent claims it’ll help you browse two-times faster than a standard browser. Of course, that’s the hallmark of Norway’s Opera browser – and clearly Tencent has decided that it was worth adopting.

Tencent's QQ Browser product page on Getjar.com.

Web browsers have become a new battleground in recent years, especially amongst China’s web firms, who see free browsers as a way to keep users in your ecosystem – or at least to keep people thinking of your brand. The most popular Chinese-made web browser at the moment is the indie UC Browser, made by UC Web, which went global even earlier – and last month rolled out officially in India.

This move by Tencent will heighten the animosity between the two companies, which are currently locked in a lawsuit in which UC Web accuses Tencent of anti-competitive practices. Interestingly, this whole spat started as a dispute about the two companies’ mobile web browsers.

Tencent’s browser has an iPhone version, but it has not yet been released in English.

Here’s the QQ Browser page on Getjar. For the sake of impartiality, here’s UC Browser (Market link) as well. But, personally, I much prefer Japanese-made Sleipnir (Market link) because of its neat gesture-based actions.