Having experience working on Web and Mobile Applications for users in China, below are some findings which may be useful to host a Mobile App in China Markets.
If you do not have an organization branch setup in China, it’s advisable to engage with some Agency in China that can help smooth your distribution.
A note on wechat - Consider using wechat platform instead of creating a Mobile App. Wechat platform supports creating Apps and delivering to users. Wechat is almost in all phones in China so may be more far reaching then trying to push your own App to users phones.
Given uncertainties, we ended up engaging another agency in China to do this for us. If you still like to go ahead, then below are the findings I have from working on a Project.
- IOS does not have any special China specific Store. It’s one single global IOS App Store, so we can publish Mobile Apps to IOS in China without worrying about anything.
- Android has several China specific stores. Popularity wise, app should be published on Top 10, if not Top 30 Android app stores. To publish a Mobile App for Android, one need to have a Business Registration in China.
- Android App, if not free, requires to open a Bank account in China as well under the same Business Registration.
- In addition, Android App stores require us to obtain “Copyright certification and registration number”. It’s difficult to get this from government if company is not a local China company.
- API or Website Hosting in China is not mandatory, however, for performance reasons it’s advisable to Host websites in China. The China Firewall and infrastructure of outgoing traffic from China may slow down website hosted outside china. Next best location, if not in China is HongKong to host websites.
- For website hosting, to get a China domain i.e. .com.cn, ICP Registration is required.
- For website hosting, to host in China also needs ICP Registration.
- eCommerce websites with bank account outside China, and seeking money from Credit cards from people in China may face issues as Credit Card payment to bank accounts that are outside China may not be supported for all types of Cards (not very sure on specifics of this aspect).
If I missed out something, please comment and I will add here.
