As of the time of writing, there were 29 major Android app stores in mainland China. As the Google Play Store is not available in the country, various Android stores have been developed, resulting in a fragmented app store landscape. In China, Android is the dominating mobile operating system. The market is distributed among various domestic shareholders with a majority controlled by the BAT trinity, that is, the internet titans Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. However, China’s mobile app door remains closed to outsiders. It presents a viable market for app developers looking to launch their products. The world’s second largest economy is already home to one of the largest populations of smartphone users, a number expected to exceed 800 million by 2021. China’s technological advancement combined its ban on Google has caused its Android market to be flooded with several competing smartphone manufacturers each with its own app store. As of November 2020, Tencent My App was the biggest Android app store in China, controlling a market share of 26 percent.
