AnTuTu is a benchmarking app that has been extensively used to evaluate the performance of mobile phones and for making comparisons. You can spot thousands of videos on YouTube where individual phone users have used the AnTuTu app on their mobiles to do these performance tests and share the results. Google has now completely removed not only AnTuTu, but many other apps from the Play Store on suspicion that they are linked to a Chinese developer with dubious intentions. AnTuTu has issued a rejoinder saying there has been a misunderstanding on Google’s part.
The background to this whole episode is that Google identified a developer, Cheetah Mobile of China as an undesirable intruder in its Play Store since the apps developed by them appeared to have too many ads in them and were also involved in data collection. The in-app purchases within the apps developed and included in the Play Store were also suspect. Google therefore decided to remove all apps which had anything to do with Cheetah Mobile.
This is where AnTuTu also got entangled. AnTuTu 3DBench, AnTuTu Benchmark, and Altutu Benchmark were the apps and all of them were removed by Google. The reason for this is an impression created by AnTuTu itself on its website that it is part of Cheetah Mobile and owned by it. There is a link on its site to Cheetah Mobile website and Cheetah Mobile’s CEO Fu Sheng is mentioned as the Chairman of Beijing AnTuTu Technology Co.
Now, after Google has removed its apps, AnTuTu CEO Zhao Chen has issued a statement in which he has said it is true that Cheetah Mobile has made an investment in their company. However, he claims they have no management control and the appointment of Fu Sheng was “due to investor requirements”. The last could be a little hard to believe since the statement says AnTuTu still “retains a considerable amount of shares”. If that is so, no minority shareholder can be offered the position of chairman of an enterprise unless that investor owns a majority shareholding.