Paytm launched its Mini App Store for Android earlier this week. The company will today hold its first-ever developer conference for the Mini App Store, where the company will host Indian developers who will talk about ‘India’s Digital Revolution’ and showcase their mini-apps. The event is set to start at 11AM with an opening keynote from Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The keynote will be followed by a product demo of the Mini App Store and a roadmap presentation. After that, a panel will speak on the “future of the app ecosystem and why India should control its own destiny.”
The Paytm Mini App Store developer conference will be a virtual event and will be held over Zoom. The company shared a Zoom webinar link (https://paytm.zoom.us/j/89755931513#success) which can be accessed using the passcode 720560. Apart from Paytm’s Sharma, Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO of GOQii wearable, Rahesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accelerator, Murugaval Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Martimony.com, and Anand Lunia, Partner at India Quotient are said to speak on the panel at today’s Paytm Mini App Developer Conference.
Paytm has launched its own mini app store on October 5, which can be accessed directly via the Paytm app. The app was launched by Paytm after its own app was taken off Google’s Play Store for violating its policies against gambling. It also came at a time when there was an ongoing push to promote Indian alternatives to Google’s Play Store.
Paytm said more than 300 apps including Decathlon, Ola, Rapido, Netmeds, 1MG, Domino’s Pizza, FreshMenu, NoBroker, and others have joined its mini app store. Paytm is providing listing and distribution of these mini apps from within the larger Paytm app, without any charge. Developers will be able to give a choice of Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank, UPI, net banking, and card payments to users. Paytm will make the mini app store available through its app. The mini app store will have mini apps, which are custom-made mobile websites that give users an app-like experience, saving them data and battery. Paytm competitor PhonePe also launched its in-app platform in June 2018, which was later rebranded to PhonePe Switch in October last year.
The mini app store can be accessed via the main section of the Paytm app, where users can find the option of paying bills. Users can access the mini app store by going to the middle section of the home screen > show more > mini app store. The app store has several categories like shopping, food delivery, healthcare, lifestyle, education, travel and transport, news and content, live TV, and more. The mini store also tells user what’s trending and the best offers.