INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Google is continuing to test new strategies in China after the U.S
search giant released its first mini program for WeChat, the country hugely popular messaging app.
WeChat is used by hundreds of millions
of Chinese people daily for services that stretch beyond chat to include mobile payments, bill paying, food delivery and more
Tencent, the company that operates WeChat, added mini programs last year and they effectively operate like apps that are attached to the
That means that usersbypass Google Play or Apple App Store and install them from WeChat.
Earlier this year, Tencent addedsupport for games
— &mini games& — andthe Chinese firm recently said that over one million mini programshave been created to date
Engagement is high, with some 500 million WeChat users interacting with at least one each month.
WeChat has become the key distribution
channel in China and that why Google is embracing it with its first mini program — 猜画小歌, a game that roughly
translates to ‘Guess My Sketch.& There no English announcement but the details can be found in this post on Google Chinese blog, which
includes the QR code to scan to get the game.
The app is a take on games like Zynga Draw Something, which puts players into teams to guess
what the other is drawing
Google, however, is adding a twist
Each player teams up with an AI and then battles against their friends and their AIs
You can find an English version of the game online here.
Google first WeChat mini program is a sketching game that uses AI
The main news
here isn&t the game, of course, but that Google is embracing mini programs, which have been christened as a threat to the Google Play Store
itself.
‘When in China… play by local rules& and Google has taken that to heart this year.
The company recently introduced a Chinese
version of its Files Go Android device management app which saw it join forces with four third-party app stores in China in order to gain
distribution.This sketching game has lower ambitions but, clearly, it&ll be a learning experience for Google that might prompt it to
introduce more significant apps or services via WeChat in the future.
Indeed, Google has been cozying up to Tencent lately after inking a
patent deal with the Chinese internet giant, investing in its close ally JD.com and combining on investment deals together, includingbiotech
startup XtalPi.
That one side of a new initiative to be more involved in China, where it has been absent since 2010 afterredirecting its
Chinese search service to Hong Kongin the face of government pressure
In other moves, it has openedan AI lab in Beijing and a more modest office in Shenzhenwhile it isbringing its startup demo day event to
China for the first time with a Shanghai event inSeptember.
Finally, in a touch of irony, Google embrace of WeChat ‘app store-killing&
mini programs platform comes just hours before the EU is expected to levya multibillion-euro penalty onit for abusing its dominant position
on mobile via Android.
Google is quietly formulating a new strategy for China
