Huawei, Xiaomi, others reportedly team up to challenge Google’s Play store

Chinese mobile phone manufacturers Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo have teamed up to create a platform that lets developers upload apps on all of their respective app stores simultaneously, people familiar with the development told Reuters.

Photo credit: Xiaomi

The four companies are currently finalizing what is known as the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA), a move that is said to be the consortium’s attempt at challenging Google Play.

According to the report, the new platform will help developers market their games, music, movies, and other apps in overseas markets. The GDSA is set to launch in March and will initially cover nine “regions,” including India, Indonesia, and Russia.

A Xiaomi spokesman, however, said the GDSA “solely serves to facilitate the uploading of apps by developers to respective app stores of Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo simultaneously. There’s no competing interest between this service and the Google Play store.” The person also denied Huawei’s involvement in the matter.

Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo declined to comment on the development, according to the report.

In 2019, worldwide mobile handset shipments grew 2% year on year according to tech market analysis firm Canalys. Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo were among the five leading players in the market – ranking second, fourth, and fifth, respectively – in terms of global shipments.

While Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi all have access to Google services in international markets, the US government put Huawei on its trade blacklist in May 2019, restricting access to US-made software such as Google’s apps.

Even with this hurdle, Huawei recalibrated its operations and reported total revenue of 610.8 billion yuan (US$86.8 billion) for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. At the time, Huawei also had more than 60 commercial 5G network supply contracts to lead the industry.

The telecoms gear maker has also taken steps to move away from Google’s Android operating system, unveiling its self-made Harmony OS in August last year. “Migrating Android apps to Harmony is very easy and only requires one or two days’ work,” Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, said at a launch event.