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Yandex runs the most popular search engine in Russia, leading some folks to call it the Google of Russia. But the company doesn’t offer its own smartphone operating system. Instead, Yandex is piggybacking on Google’s.

Today Yandex released an app store for Android phone sand tablets called Yandex.Store. There are already 50,000 apps available to download, and Yandex isn’t just targeting consumers — the store can be customized by carriers and device makers to offer a branded experience.

While 50,000 apps is a pretty good start, there are well over 700,000 apps available from the official Google Play Store. But it’s quality, not quantity that counts, and Yandex seems to have some top tier apps including Angry Birds and Cut The Rope.

The store also provides Yandex with an entry point into the mobile space and a way to make revenue from mobile devices by taking a 30 percent cut of revenue for paid apps.

Yandex.Store is available for anyone to install at m.store.yandex.com. But the company’s goal is to partner with phone makers, particularly in Russia and Turkey, although the store can support additional languages including English, French, German, and Spanish.

via TechCrunch and Android Police