Chinese app stores are difficult to navigate, but still worth a try

Apple and China: they play well together. Google and China: not the best of friends.

Actually, that’s an understatement. Back in 2010, a highly publicized dispute erupted between the Chinese government and Google over censorship regulations and hacking accusations. This led to the internet giant moving its domestic traffic and search engine operations over to Hong Kong. Many of Google’s other services and platforms lost traction over time, or were simply banned. That meant that it would join a long list of Western technology companies who had – put it simply – failed in China.

Google & Apple’s chinese app stores

Even though Android is the dominant OS throughout China, Google Play’s presence is extremely limited. The fundamental issue is that Google Play is not able to collect payments, rendering it basically useless to developers. Why publish on an app store from which you cannot collect revenue? Apple’s iOS App Store, on the other hand, always has and continues to exist problem-free in China.

So while almost all countries have accepted that Android = Google Play and iOS = Apple App Store. Whereas in China, Android = a painfully fragmented app store ecosystem.

China’s fragmented market

In the void that was left by Google and with Android smartphones flooding the market, a large number of third-party Android app stores have emerged to grab a slice of the increasingly large mobile app market. App stores start popping up everywhere, from internet security companies, to search engine and social media players, as well as handset manufacturers and mobile carriers. Currently there are around 200 app stores!

For obvious reasons, this has created a nightmare for foreign developers. Looking at this from a gamer’s point of view helps us understand the situation a little better:

• You own a Sony smartphone
• The “Sony App Store” comes pre-installed on your device, making it your first app store option
• Your carrier is Verizon, and Verizon highly encourages you to download and use its “Verizon App Store”
• At the same time, you’ve heard that Yahoo, Facebook and Symantec (Norton AntiVirus) also own app stores

In order to download more app stores and access a larger number of games, Chinese gamers have to download the app store from APKs found on the web. And sometimes, they download the new store from other existing app stores, which can be confusing.

This is a rough depiction of the state of China’s mobile app marketplace: fragmented and confusing. What’s important to know is that the 3 layers of app stores are handset manufacturers, mobile carriers and independent third-party stores.

No “one-stop” solution

So why does this all matter? Because, unfortunately, there is no easy solution to publish across all Android stores. Why? Each app store requires a specific type of integration. Monitoring and updating is not centralized, making it difficult and time consuming to manage an app across this many stores. What’s more, only Chinese entities are able to collect revenue, meaning that, unless you have a physical presence or office in China, it will be next to impossible to collect IAP.