In the context of Russia facing sanctions, two application platforms, Google and Apple, have closed the payment system.
Since then, Russian users have not been able to purchase any games or apps in the app store, nor have they been able to make in-app purchases and subscribe to any services.
At the same time, since the two main app stores are in a state of shutdown, many apps and their developers have no choice but to leave the Russian market. This seriously affects the local application ecosystem.
Facing the increasingly harsh environmental situation, Russia’s largest social platform VK has launched its own RuStore application store, replacing the Google Play Store and the App Store. According to reports, RuStore had more than 100 apps when it first launched and is still growing every day. By mid-July, 500,000 users had downloaded the app.
Russian RuStore App Store.
At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation announced that RuStore should be pre-installed on smartphones sold in Russia. More recently, the government ministry published a draft government decree officially proposing to add RuStore to the list of mandatory applications, and public discussions on the project will end on August 17.
Thanks to the huge user base, this can often lead to a huge app economy. However, the user’s first priority is whether they can enjoy the full service after paying.
News of Russia reported that, since Sony suspended the import of PS and PS stores in Russia, on May 25, 28 local PS users have jointly filed a class-action lawsuit in court, demanding that granted access to the PS store and reinstated purchases including software games, while compensating all litigants for 280 million rubles. “This seriously violates the rights of users of Sony’s game consoles and services,” the local attorney said.
Due to the above considerations, it can be said that the Russian government and local companies are worried about how to restore the application economy and PC software ecosystem. Trying to rebuild the entire ecosystem and reverse the current weaknesses of the Internet technology sector.
Objectively speaking, mobile app store is not the only way to get apps at the moment, for example, advertising platforms like Bilibili and Douyin can download apps and become become one of the important means of application distribution today.
From this perspective, while traditional app stores are still important for users to find and download, the importance of app stores is no longer so prominent when it comes to promoting your apps. developers.
However, from the Russian government’s point of view, the reason for focusing on “mandatory pre-installation of domestic app stores” is that, on the one hand, app stores are still performing an important responsibility. It is important to check the security of the application and protect the privacy. On the other hand, it is also to deal with the worst case scenario of banning access to two major stores in the future.
