Search engine giant Google has always struggled with the policies of China. However the company does not give up on testing new strategies in the Asian country. Google has released its first mini program for WeChat which is a popular messaging app in China. About millions of Chinese use WeChat everyday for services that are more than just chat and also include bill paying, mobile payments, food delivery and more.
Mini programes were added by Tencent, the company that operates WeChat. They effectively operate the apps which are attached to the service. This means that users bypass Google Play or the Apple’s App Store and can install then from WeChat. Earlier in 2018, Tencent also added support for mini games. The Chinese based firm recently said that more than one million mini programs have been added till date.
Even the engagement rate is high as about 500 million WeChat users interact with at least one every month. We Chat in recent times has become the key distribution channel in China which is the reason Google is joining hands with its first mini program. The program is a game that can be roughly translated to Guess My Sketch.So far no English announcement has been made and the details of it can be found on the search engine’s Chinese blog. It also includes a QR code which can be scanned to get more details.
The app can be similar to Zynga’s Draw Something that puts the players in to teams to guess what the other is drawing. But Google has a twist as every player can team up with an AI and then battle against their friends and their AIs. Users can also fund an English version of the game. The news here is not the game but that the search engine has opened arms to mini programs which can be a threat to its Play Store.
Photo Credits: radiichina
