The fourth round of the app – Newspaper Kommersant No. 216 (7417) dated 11/22/2022

MTS has created its own app store for Android phones – AppBazar. Unlike RuStore, it does not have applications from sanctioned banks, but there are games by foreign developers – they are distributed by a content provider registered in Russia. MTS has already tried to create three different stores, including in collaboration with Vodafone and Opera, but the projects were closed. Experts generally doubt the potential of operator’s app stores, as they copy existing projects on the market.

MTS told Kommersant that they are launching the AppBazar app store for Android phones in test mode. Now it has 83 applications, 55 of which are games. The new store, explained in MTS, allows you to buy paid applications using a mobile phone account or from cards of Russian banks. The company intends to promote applications from AppBazar as part of the loyalty program among MTS customers, and by February 2023 promises to expand the catalog to 500 positions. MTS is also in talks with smartphone manufacturers about a possible pre-installation of AppBazar, but does not disclose with whom exactly.

Not only Russian, but also foreign developers will be able to place applications in AppBazar, according to MTS. They say that they are already cooperating with five foreign companies, without disclosing their names. So far, this seems to be the main difference between the development of MTS and the RuStore store from VK, which, by decision of the government, will become mandatory for pre-installation on all mobile devices sold in Russia. There, only Russian persons can be publishers of applications, it follows from the rules for registering developers.

“Kommersant” found in AppBazar games from British 8floor (Gnomes Garden), Italian TuoMuseo (Father and Son), Brazilian Orube Game Studio (Dwarf Journey), Portuguese Infinity Games (Infinity Loop) and Russian-British Zeptolab (Cut the Rope and CATS ). Their publisher in AppBazar lists mobile content provider SMS Services, owned by i-Free co-founders Kirill Petrov and Sergey Shulga. Kommersant sent a request to SMS Services.

Of the 28 non-gaming applications presented in AppBazar, 15 are developed by MTS itself. Some of the third-party services are also associated with the operator: the Ozon marketplace is the common owner (AFK Sistema), BelkaCar car sharing is the presence in the MTS Premium subscription.

Banks are represented by three applications – from MTS Bank, Post Bank and Dom.RF. The MTS store does not contain applications of banks that fell under sanctions and were removed from Google Play and the App Store, in particular, Sberbank. The company declined to comment on the possibility of their inclusion in AppBazar, but noted that they do not plan to introduce restrictions on access for applications of other telecom operators to their platform.

MTS has already tried to create app stores for Android under its own brand. In 2011, the operator brought to the market “MTS Shop” – an adapted version of the Vodafone 360 ​​Shop catalog from the British operator of the same name. At that time, the store had more than 7 thousand applications, it was pre-installed on the HTC Sensation phone. “MTS Store” was closed 19 months after the start of work. In 2014, the operator, in cooperation with the Norwegian Opera, introduced the MTS App Market paid store, there were 3 thousand applications. In 2015, MTS launched a separate store for mobile video games – MTS Games. Both projects were closed before the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

TelecomDaily CEO Denis Kuskov doubts the success of any application stores launched by telecom operators: “They do not invent an alternative to existing services, but simply copy them.” In his opinion, the presence of a large number of games in AppBazar will be more important than the presence of applications that are not available on Google Play due to sanctions, but AppBazar needs to “completely move away from being committed to one operator” and also invest heavily in store advertising.

The MTS store can be used to organize access to the components of the MTS Premium subscription, suggests Pavel Golub, co-founder of Arcsinus digital platform developer. In his opinion, it will also be possible to add in-game bonuses for games hosted in AppBazar to the subscription. Mr. Golub also admits that AppBazar may be a preparation for the return of MTS to the phone market under its own brand.

Yuri Litvinenko