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PhonePe Goes Beyond Payments with Launch of App Store in India

PhonePe, one of the revolutionary fintech applications in India, started the trend of digital payments in the country and is now advancing to introduce its App Store for Indian Android users. 

PhonePe has been in constant competition with Google Pay in the UPI space. As PhonePe has a stable market share in the digital payment trade, it’s time for the fintech giant to enter a space beyond payments. 

The idea of PhonePe’s new app store is to offer hyper-localised services with advertisements based on customers’ preferences. The app will be available in 12 languages. This is to make the app store more friendly for the Indian market. The platform will have 24/7 chat support, premium UI/UX and high-quality advertisements for enhanced customer experience. 

PhonePe is now working in collaboration with one of the best Indian smartphone providers, Xiaomi, as per sources. Moreover, the company is also in constant interaction with various OEMs for collaboration to enter the new space. 

There is no declaration of when this new app store will be made available for users, but it is expected to be within the next few weeks. 

Given that Android powers more than 95% of smartphones in India, the Play Store has gained a monopoly. Challenging Google Play is a strong move by PhonePe. But here, we’d like to recall what happened in 2020: Google VS Paytm. 

The Indian digital payment platform Paytm launched a contest on its app that provided users with cashback and rewards related to the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, Google deemed the contest as gambling and subsequently removed Paytm from its app store. As a result, Paytm faced significant consequences and had to launch its own store to help users download their app. 

Google is known for suppressing competition. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) conducted an investigation and found that Google was engaged in anti-competitive practices. This was due to Google's dominant position in the market. As a result, the CCI imposed a fine on Google and instructed the company to change its business practices. 

PhonePe may have an advantage in the app store battle due to its acquisition of Indus OS in 2022. Indus OS, originally an operating system, pivoted to become an app store called App Bazaar and gained traction with over 400,000 apps listings and over a billion downloads. It even powered Samsung's Galaxy store. Also PhonePe has already created its own mini-app store called Switch. So yes, there is a high chance PhonePe gains good tractions. This app store battle will definitely be worth watching closely.

What do you think? Will PhonePe be able to surpass the impact and experience that Google Play Store has created over decades? 

Let’s wait for the app store launch!