Bycott China movement hurts ‘tiktok’ badly in Indian market
Before the May 5 confrontation between Indian and Chinese soldiers, the popular short-form video app Tick Talk was ranked 5th among the top-10 free applications on Apple’s platform in India. After about a month, this app slipped to 10th position.
The growing noise of boycott of Chinese products in the country due to China’s aggressive currency in Ladakh is hurting popular Chinese apps like Tick Talk in the Indian market. This has been revealed by the analysis of data. However, industry figures show that lesser known apps developed by this Asian veteran are flourishing in India even in the current situation.
Tick Talk, another popular Chinese app on the take off
Data from Finland-based mobile-ranking platform AppFollows shows that applications such as Tick Talk have had to bear the brunt of Indian anger due to tensions on the Ladakh border.
Before the May 5 confrontation between Indian and Chinese soldiers, the popular short-form video app Tick Talk was ranked 5th among the top-10 free applications on Apple’s platform in India. After about a month, this app slipped to 10th position.
At the same time, Tick Talk’s ranking in India fell from 3 to 5 in Android users. But it still remains in the list of top-10 popular apps in India. Another popular Chinese app, Shareite, also saw its ranking drop on Google’s Android platform – it dropped from the 11th ranking to number 16.
Another fast emerging Chinese content-sharing and social-networking application is named- Hello. But its ranking among iPhone users in India has declined. It dropped from the 30th position to 42. On Android, Halo has dropped out of the free apps top-10 category. Earlier it was at number 8, now it has fallen to 12th position.
Lesser known Chinese apps are flourishing
But unlike popular apps, lesser-known Chinese applications have flourished in the Indian market during this period. For example, the BIGO Live app controlled by top Chinese streaming platform JOYY jumped to number 10 in the top-grossing mobile applications among iPhone users in India, rising to number 10. In Android users also, in the free-applications category, this app improved its ranking from 86 to 81 position.
A new Chinese Rival Like Tick Talk is being operated by JOYY, a platform based in Guangzhou. By improving its user-base among iPhone users, this app has jumped from the 176th position to 150 in the free-app list. There is no clear evidence to indicate that Indian users have permanently shifted to other platforms.
Takedown
On Tuesday, Google removed the Friends app, which was being promoted as an Indian alternative to Tick Talk. Earlier, experts pointed out flaws with its safety. The policy regarding privacy, content and spamming of the app was also under suspicion. It is not yet known whether the app will be re-listed on the PlayStore.
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Google also removed a recently launched application that helped users identify Chinese applications from phones and uninstall them from phones.
Chinese applications could be removed from this application created by a Jaipur-based technology firm. This app received one million downloads within ten days. Its developers did not disclose the reasons behind the takedown. However, he said so much that he is working on suggestions and feedback.
