India’s alternative to Google, Apple App Stores launches mSeva competition for Android developers

India’s indigenously developed app store Mobile Seva or mSeva AppStore – which was born in 2013 as an alternative to Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store – now offers Indian developers the opportunity to create innovative mobile apps.

Launched to meet the goals of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, the Indian version of the app store has 1,197 live apps and has registered over 9 billion downloads so far.

App developers have until May 31 to submit their products to the newly launched mSeva competition for ‘innovative apps’. According to the website, it is a contest for Android apps and the winners will be featured on the mSeva AppStore, which is fully government owned. proprietary mobile application hosting platform.

Interested parties can create mobile apps for the following categories: Government Services, Education/Reference/Mobile Learning, Lifestyle/Travel/Entertainment/News, Productivity/Tools/Finance and Agriculture/Food/Health.

While the winning apps are selected based on their innovative ideas and execution, the winners in each category will receive ‘Make-in-India’ products worth Rs 1,000. The requirements for the contest are an APK file of no more than 90 MB, an icon of 512×512 pixels and less than 200 KB, and at least three screenshots with a size of 155×290 pixels and less than 1 MB.

Registered contestants should remember some guidelines:

• Entry into the application must not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party
• Developers must ensure that viruses or other malicious code are not downloaded under any circumstances
• The competition may not be used for anything illegal, misleading, harmful or discriminatory
• The competitor must sign a declaration of origin and ownership of the downloaded application
• The application may not be submitted to any other competition or use or to any other application store.

“The competition encourages more Indian app developers who have potential but could not find more opportunities to showcase their products through the Play Store or App Store,” said Rohan Verma, CEO of MapmyIndia, the company that developed the Mappls App. An Indian alternative to Google Maps and is available on the mSeva AppStore.

Verma told Return Byte that mSeva offered Indians a great app store option to discover and download quality apps built by Indians for Indians. “MeiTY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and C-DAC (Development Center for Advanced Computing) have built their own technical powerhouses that have built the largest and most critical digital population-level platforms, mSeva. It has the capacity if given the opportunity to be a great digital public app store,” he said.

He added, “We are excited about the prospects and popularity of mSeva among Indian users and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) because of more choice, more innovation and more benefits.”

Rajneesh Jaswal, head of legal and policy at Koo — one of the first microblogging apps to go live — said downloads and uploads were free on the mSeva AppStore, and only verified and signed APKs could be downloaded during testing before launch. was mandatory.

“MSeva’s main motive is an inclusive public service, because the platform does not charge fees or cut income. This is a separate approach to large platforms where profit motivation and platform politics are the priority. Such an inclusive approach removes barriers and encourages all developers and users to participate in an effective way,” he said.

He added: “Developers with fewer resources now have a level playing field without being burdened with costs and payment barriers.”

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