PRESS: MTS can offer buyers to install Yandex apps at stores

MOSCOW, Sep 16 (PRIME) -- Major Russian mobile operator MTS will offer buyers of its retail chain to install a pack of applications with services from Internet company Yandex on smartphones from October, and sellers will get bonuses for new users of Yandex.Drive and Yandex.Taxi, business daily Kommersant reported on Monday, citing a market source.

The source said a basic package of applications will contain such services as My MTS, MTS Money, Yandex.Browser, Yandex.Taxi or Uber, Yandex.Drive, and Auto.ru.

MTS sellers will get bonuses for installation of the offer and a commission of up to 250 rubles for registration of unique users in Yandex.Drive and the first trip in Yandex.Taxi, the source said.

The mobile operator had 5,880 stores as of the end of June.

An MTS spokesperson said the company is considering an option to test Yandex’s program of installation of “MTS services and other applications on smartphones of clients.” Buyers can ask sellers to install any program, and the cost of the service will be set later, the company said.

A Yandex said the project “will allow users to save time on search and installation” of applications.

Former head of large retailer Svyaznoy-Euroset Alexander Malis said such cooperation has been on the market for about five years. As a rule, a developer pays a retailer a commission from 100 rubles to 1,000 rubles if a buyer uses an application, he said.

(64.4711 rubles – U.S. $1)

End