CHINA'S largest Internet company Tencent said it will invest 2 billion yuan (US$323 million) this year to encourage small and medium-sized developers to attract more third party service provider to its open platform.
Tang Daosheng, president of the social network business group of Tencent, said at a conference for developers that it will try to create a fair and open platform for all sorts of developers.
More than 400,000 independent software programs are now available on Tencent's open platform after the platform's official launch in June 2011, which covers both smartphone operation system and desktop computers, and 26 of them have monthly income of 100 million yuan.
Chairman Martin Lau said the total commission allocated to external developers from Tencent is expected to reach 3 billion yuan this year.
He added that the company's popular mobile messaging software WeChat will also serve as a platform for developers to expand their operations and reach out to users in overseas markets.
WeChat currently has 70 million overseas users and has versions in 18 different languages.