Walmart-owned Phonepe is working on launching an Android app store that will offer localized services for Indian users, TechCrunch reported on April 24. The store will offer "high-quality advertisements and custom targeting, support for 12 languages, and 24×7 live chat," the report stated. Play Store commands a 97 percent share in the Indian app store market but there's an opportunity for Phonepe to build an alternative that is "more localized not just from a language perspective but also from a discovery and consumer interest perspective," a Phonepe spokesperson told TechCrunch. Why does this matter: The app store will compete with Google's Play Store at a time when there is increased antitrust scrutiny on the latter. Developers have long complained about the high commissions charged by Google and any app store offering lower commissions and a large user base will appeal to developers. Developers have been asking for an Indian alternative to the Play Store and Phonepe has the potential to deliver given the popularity of its payments app. But it should be noted that others have tried (Samsung Galaxy Store, Xiaomi Mi Store, Huawei AppGallery, etc) and have not been able to break the dominance of Google. Will Phonepe be any different? https://twitter.com/deepakshenoy/status/1649311329856139266?s=20 Phonepe might not be able to list the app store on Google Play: As with other third-party app stores, Phonepe's store will either have to come preinstalled, which will require partnerships with smartphone manufacturers, or will have to be side-loaded, i.e. downloaded from the internet and installed manually…
