3 days ago
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Xiaomi will replace its app store with fintech PhonePe’s offering for customers in India starting January in a major win for the Indian startup.
The smartphone vendor, the second largest in India, will automatically push the update to customers’ devices in India to replace GetApps with PhonePe’s Indus AppStore, it informed customers over the weekend.
Xiaomi has shipped more than 250 million smartphones and another 100 million other devices in India since beginning operations in the country in 2013.
“The GetApps team will continue providing app installation and support services under the name Indus Services App,” stated a customer notice seen by TechCrunch.
PhonePe — backed by investors including Walmart, General Atlantic and Tiger Global — launched Indus AppStore in February this year, seeking to challenge Google’s monopoly in its largest market by users.
A number of businesses in India, as is the case in many parts of the world, have voiced concerns about Google’s “excessive” fees of up to 30% on app transactions in recent years and complained that the Android-maker doesn’t permit use of third-party app on the Play Store.
PhonePe’s Indus AppStore seeks to address some of these concerns with its first-year no listing fee, support for third-party payments providers, local languages as well as customer support.
Xiaomi and PhonePe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manish Singh is a senior reporter at TechCrunch, covering India’s startup scene and venture capital investments. He also reports on global tech firms’ India play. Before joining TechCrunch in 2019, Singh wrote for about a dozen publications, including CNBC and VentureBeat. He graduated in Computer Science and Engineering in 2015. He is reachable on manish(at)techcrunch(dot)com.
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