Google: App companies will see business models similar to China after opening Google.

Indian app developers believe that the disruption of the Google-dominated app ecosystem in India will help them create a number of new business models to partner with users, hardware companies and operating systems.

The country’s app ecosystem may reflect China’s multiple operating systems and Play Store options in the variety of applications users choose to deploy on their smartphones, he said.

According to Rohan Verma, the possibilities are endless and it may reflect part of the Chinese ecosystem, where there are many OS options and app stores for users to choose from – except in India, where Google can also be an option. , CEO and Managing Director of MapmyIndia.

“It will level the playing field and I feel this fragmentation will help the ecosystem and give users freedom of choice and challenge the monopoly that Google has built for itself,” he told ET.

Hardware manufacturers or OEMs also said that forming partnerships with app developers could represent new business models used to subsidize device costs.

Last week, Google announced a number of changes to the way it processes Android and Google Play payments as ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). In two rulings in October, the antitrust watchdog had directed the US company to make nearly 20 changes to its services operations in India.

BharatMatrimony CEO Murugavel Janakiraman says, “There are a lot of new avenues that open up partnerships with OEMs or people who create something like a microplay store. But so far, we don’t have many strong or compelling offers because they’ve used Google alone. However, such options may emerge in the future, as with Google’s Android, there may be other services or software players that may offer alternative offerings.

The changes announced by Google will allow OEMs to license custom Google apps to be pre-installed on their devices. Previously, these apps were pre-installed on Android for free.

Indian users will now have the option to choose their default search engine.

Google is updating its backend to allow partners to build incompatible or forked versions of Android. User Choice Pay will be available for all apps and games starting next month, Google said.

Also read | Google, open Sesame without delay

State-owned BharOS and PhonePe-owned IndusOS and several other platforms now have a level playing field and can usher in new models for the Indian app ecosystem.

MapmyIndia Mapps (a home-grown navigation company’s mapping app) and even BharOS or IndusOS are very interesting options that can be explored by OEMs, where they can offer better differentiated offerings to OEMs and their users, said Verma at MapmyIndia.

It remains to be seen, if the other carriers can match the experience of Google’s Android ecosystem.

ET reported last week that smartphone brands were worried that replacing the Google app with another pre-installed app that doesn’t offer a better experience could affect phone sales, especially when overall demand is low.

A top Indian executive said, “Hawaiian smartphones that lost Google apps (after US sanctions on the company in 2019) saw its global market share drop immediately as users rejected the smartphone without support from the US search firm. Leading smartphone brands told ET earlier. “This (Huawei) is a good indicator of how much influence the Google app ecosystem has on Android users.”

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