Yandex to Launch Android App Store Targeting Google and Amazon

The popular Russian search engine ‘Yandex’ has announced the launch of its own Android app store. It will be named ‘Yandex.store’ and will be officially released for public use during this quarter. There is no information regarding the exact date of its launch. The website Yandex.Store will be hosting more than 38,000 Android apps. Sources also indicate that this would go up by many times. The functioning of this app store will be similar to other app stores with 30 percent of the total revenues to be generated using the sales of paid applications.

In-app purchasing will also be supported in Yandex store. The payment for the apps being purchased can be done through mobile billing, credit card and e-money. Screenshots of the ‘to be released’ website has already started to circulate in the internet. The design of the app store is considered by analysts as a mixture of Google Play Store and Amazon App Store. Yandex is a popular contender for Google in Russia competing in areas such as Maps and Searches. The company has now extended its service to the App Store segment also.

Yandex officials have stated that the app store will be made available for telecom operators and manufacturers for bundling with Android devices which are released in countries where Yandex has its services. As per the company sources, the app store will be first launched in Russia followed by Turkey and other CIS countries. Users who do not hail from these countries will have to wait for longer for this Russian google to become available globally.