Apps

Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo joins Huawei’s effort to build a Play Store alternative

Preparing for a Google-less future

Published

February 10, 2020

Kenrick Buduan

Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo recently collaborated with Huawei to build the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). GDSA aims to create a single app store aimed at simplifying app uploads and downloads for developers and consumers.

At first glance, GDSA seems like a competitor for Google’s Play Store. Over the years, the rising hostility of the US towards Chinese tech companies led to tariffs and outright ban from using its technologies. For example, Huawei suffered an entity ban last 2018 due to suspicions of spying for the Chinese government.

Such precedence may have stoked fear among other Chinese companies that a ban could be leveraged by the US in the future. Dependence on Western technologies is crucial for these companies. As such, a ban would represent a great loss, considering that most of these companies have established markets in many countries.

To counter this scenario, these tech companies are slowly building their own alternatives to established apps and services. Huawei, for its part, had already pushed out AppGallery as an alternative to Google’s Play Store. Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo have their own app stores in China due to a continuing ban on Google’s services in the country.

A unified app store

A unified app store will greatly simplify the process for developers who have to deal with these multiple app stores. GDSA will unify the backend of these app stores so developers can publish once and have their apps appear on the brands’ respective app stores.

For now, details about GDSA are scarce. Pilot countries for its deployment include 9 key regions including India, Russia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. A prototype website has been set up, but developers cannot sign up for it yet.

But if GDSA really pushes through, Google will face some serious competition on Android app distribution. Furthermore, the issue of fragmentation will only deepen in the ecosystem as companies build their own version of Google apps.

Xiaomi’s statement

Xiaomi already responded with a statement stating that they have no plans to position GDSA as a Play Store competitor. The company reiterated GDSA’s function to simplify the app uploading process. Furthermore, there was no mention of Huawei in their statement.

Huawei and Google have yet to release a statement. However, it is clear that Google will not welcome this development. Considering that Google has an iron grip on app store distribution outside China, a viable competitor will only compel the American company to further control the Android ecosystem.

With a tightening grip on Android, other tech companies will only intensify their efforts to build an alternative OS. Huawei, as an example, launched HarmonyOS for its devices in the future.

An alternative app store will also open up another potential avenue for hackers targeting users with malware. This will only contribute to security and privacy problems in Android, which has long been dealing with notorious malware and data breaches.

Source: Reuters

Apps

Bard is now available to try for Google One users

Join the waitlist now

Published

March 22, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

The race for artificial intelligence is a hot trail. Amid the unbridled popularity of ChatGPT, several companies have started pushing their own language models out the gate. Google, eager to compete in the emerging industry, has now opened Bard to users.

Today, Google has started issuing invitations to Google One subscribers for a chance to try the new chatbot. Subscribers can enter a waitlist to test the technology for themselves.

In essence, Bard acts the same as ChatGPT. Users can talk to the bot conversationally, and it will respond perfectly, as if you were talking to another human being. It’s a language learning model. By talking to so many users, the model can learn the best way to reply to certain prompts.

Although Google has access to its search engine, Bard is currently meant to complement it. The company warns users that the chatbot is still prone to occasional mistakes. As an example, it gave the wrong scientific name for a plant. While this example is innocuous, there can be more nefarious errors that the developers are still trying to fix. With a wider test now open to the public, Google hopes to fix more egregious mistakes ahead of a wider launch.

For now, if you subscribe to Google’s premium subscription service, you can wait in line to try out the new technology.

Apps

TikTok enlists users’ help to fight against ban

Ahead of a hearing this week

Published

March 22, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

TikTok is in for another fight. Recently, the American government upped its efforts to ban the video-sharing platform from the country. The company is preparing to fight back. Ahead of a potential ban, it is enlisting the help of its most precious resource: TikTok users.

Today, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew shared a video to update the entire community about his impending congressional hearing later this week. In the video, the CEO thanks the American userbase in helping the platform grow, enumerating important numbers ahead of the hearing. For example, TikTok now has 150 million users — which, Chew notes, is half of the population of the United States — and 7,000 employees in the country.

The video then goes on to share the government’s plans to ban TikTok, potentially taking the app away from the big numbers that Chew mentioned. Further, the CEO is asking all these users to share what they love about the app in the comments of the video.

@tiktok

Our CEO, Shou Chew, shares a special message on behalf of the entire TikTok team to thank our community of 150 million Americans ahead of his congressional hearing later this week.

♬ original sound – TikTok

For years, the American government has hounded the app over its Chinese ownership. The company — especially parent company ByteDance — has the potential to act as a conduit for Chinese surveillance, the government argues. The company has tried to counter these claims by increasing its employees in the country.

Now, the fight is coming to a head with several government bodies and other countries banning the app outright. It’s unknown how Chew is planning to attack the incoming congressional hearing. However, it’s likely that the company will leverage user feedback to buoy the app as an essential part of the current American landscape.

SEE ALSO: UK starts banning TikTok

Apps

ShopeePay now available for Apple services

Additional payment method

Published

March 20, 2023

GadgetMatch

ShopeePay, the integrated mobile wallet of the e-commerce giant, is now available as a payment method for Apple services.

That means in the Philippines, one’s ShopeePay account may be used to pay for App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV app, and iTunes Store purchases, iCloud storage and more.

Using ShopeePay as an Apple ID payment method eliminates the need for a credit card while still having a secure and easy way for one-tap purchases from iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more.

Customers can manage their Apple ID payment information in Settings on iPhone and iPad, or on their Mac or PC.

On the Shopee app itself, ShopeePay has been a convenient payment option for users to buy products, as well as to pay bills, top-up load, and more.