Xiaomi Partners with PhonePe to Pre-Install Indus Appstore on Its Smartphones

Xiaomi has made a notable announcement affecting India’s digital industry, forming a partnership with PhonePe to incorporate the Indus Appstore into every new Xiaomi device sold in the domestic market.

This new alliance replaces the existing GetApps store, making the Indus Appstore a potential replacement for the Google Play Store.

Xiaomi Partners with PhonePe to Pre-Install Indus Appstore on New Smartphones in India

The Indus Appstore offers a user-friendly platform that developers can use to create applications.

Indus Appstore was launched by PhonePe in February 2024, incorporating various developer-centric features.

Unlike Google Play Store, Indus Appstore does not charge a commission on developers’ in-app sales, enabling them to keep 100% of their earnings.

Developers have the freedom to choose payment gateways, giving them the flexibility to manage transactions.

The platform offers support for 12 Indian languages, allowing it to cater to a diverse user base and improve the app’s usability for multiple linguistic communities.

Improving the Overall Quality of the User Experience

The Indus Appstore provides its users with various options.

Having multiple language options enables users to locate and engage with apps in the language that suits them best, thereby resulting in a more personalized and immersive digital experience.

The platform features video previews for mobile applications, enabling users to form a visual understanding beforehand, thereby enhancing the process of discovering new apps.

Xiaomi and PhonePe Released Joint Announcements

Xiaomi India’s Chief Operating Officer, Sudhin Mathur, underscored the significance of this alliance, noting that with the digital environment in India expanding, the need for a locally managed app store has reached a pivotal point.

Xiaomi’s involvement in its “Make for India” program was highlighted, and he believes that integrating Indus Appstore aligns with this approach by providing users with a better app discovery experience, as well as enabling Indian developers to access a broader user base.

Indus Appstore’s Chief Business Officer, Priya M. Narasimhan, emphasized the importance of the partnership by describing it as a significant move towards making the app marketplace more accessible.

The company plans to offer a culturally sensitive experience to users by integrating Xiaomi India’s influence into their app discovery platform, a feature tailored to cater to local market requirements.

Challenges Ahead

This partnership represents a major milestone in the effort to increase app distribution in India, but it will face considerable challenges in challenging Google Play Store’s entrenched market leadership.

The Google platform is tightly integrated with the Android ecosystem, providing features such as Play Protect, automated software updates, and a range of developer tools.

To effectively draw in developers and users, the Indus Appstore needs to keep introducing fresh ideas and addressing these issues on an ongoing basis.

Wrapping It All

The collaboration between Xiaomi and PhonePe, which includes pre-installing the Indus Appstore on new Xiaomi devices, represents a significant change in India’s mobile app distribution sector.

The platform endeavors to establish a developer-friendly environment with no transaction fees and a wide range of language capabilities, ultimately yielding a tailored and engaging experience for users.

The digital landscape’s ongoing evolution may lead to projects that significantly change how applications are discovered and disseminated in India, ultimately creating a more inclusive and diverse digital environment.