Why China’s tech giants are funneling money at battery boosting apps

US-based tech firms will often lament how difficult it is to break into the China market. Startups and corporations alike will point to unfriendly business regulations, unusual consumer preferences, and language barriers as obstacles preventing their mobile apps from attracting Chinese consumers. It also doesn’t help that the companies that make up China’s internet landscape – Alibaba for shopping and payments, Tencent for social, and Baidu for search – have almost zero consumer-facing presence outside the country’s borders.

But the same could be said of Chinese app developers looking to break into the US, or other markets abroad. Take a look at the top rankings for the US iOS app store on App Annie. Alongside staples like Facebook or hits like Candy Crush Saga, you’ll be hard pressed to find any titles from China. Turn the spotlight towards China, and you’ll find that amidst a sea of apps from Tencent and Baidu, only one or two apps even have English-language names.

Despite the invisible fence that separates China’s online ecosystem with that of the rest of the world, some large Chinese firms have found a winning formula for creating a hit app abroad- and it’s not what you’d expect.

Boring is the new sexy

If there’s one quality that the world’s most popular made-in-China apps share, it’s that they’re all boring. Chinese tech giants are investing heavily in building utility apps like web browsers, Android launchers, and security apps for international users.

Beijing’s Cheetah Mobile announced last September that Clean Master, an app that manages junk files on Android devices, has passed the 100 million daily active user mark. It counted 284 million monthly active users across its entire suite of mobile apps, which also includes CM Security, CM Browser, and Battery Doctor. Cheetah won’t give a number for its users outside China for each of the apps, but it claims that 65 percent of its users come from beyond the Middle Kingdom.

Sungy Mobile is far from a household name, but its GO Launcher Ex has surpassed the 200 million download mark, making it one of the most popular Android launchers on the market. Other apps in its GO series include a weather app, an SMS management app, a keyboard app, a junk file management app, and a battery saving app. As of late 2013, 70 percent of its users were from outside of China.

Baidu has built an empire in China around its search engine, but its biggest hit internationally is probably Du Speed Booster, an Android app that claims to optimize a phone’s performance. Baidu tells Tech in Asia that Du Speed Booster is fast approaching 100 million downloads from outside of China, while Du Battery Saver, its companion app, has surpassed 50 million downloads outside of its home nation. Du Apps Studio, the branch responsible for Baidu’s suite of globally-oriented utility apps, has also produced a browser and a flashlight app.

Guangzhou’s UCWeb makes UC Browser, which is China’s most popular mobile browser. But it’s also strong in India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh, as well as a number of other markets. Even Qihoo 360, the controversial Chinese company known for its anti-virus software, has a suite of English-language utility apps. 360 Security, the closest analog to the company’s Chinese security app for Windows PCs, has 60 million users outside of China according to the company.

These apps aren’t made by tiny startups. Baidu, Qihoo, Cheetah Mobile, and Sungy Mobile are all listed on the US Stock Exchange – the latter two firms both filed for IPO last year. Alibaba, meanwhile, acquired UCWeb last June for an undisclosed (but probably pretty big) sum.

Why are these wealthy, well-staffed Chinese companies betting on boring browsers and battery apps in the hope of cracking international markets?

Hiding in the blind spots

Five reasons explain why some of the world’s most popular utility apps are made by Chinese internet giants.

1. It’s what they know

To a certain extent, Chinese internet giants are making boring utilities for the world merely out of habit. Kingsoft, which spun out Cheetah Mobile in early 2014 before its IPO, launched Kingsoft Antivirus for PCs in 1999. While the company remains best known for its productivity software (and as the former stomping grounds for Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun), it also has a number of utility products. Baidu has also released browsers, anti-virus software, and junk cleaning apps for Windows machines. Qihoo became one of China’s biggest internet companies with its ubiquitous anti-virus PC software. It now has a popular search engine in China and is wealthy enough to invest in US startups. Its evolution from a maker of utilities to a maker of other services makes it the poster boy for this model.

2. They’re easy to localize

Beyond familiarity, however, utility apps are also suitable for export because they are easy to adapt to new markets.

Get users, get data, get distribution

Utilizing utilities