Google Play has also removed other apps allowing users to listen to music from the biggest social network in Russia.
As some experts claimed, the application was deleted due to a complaint from one of the three biggest global record companies (Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music / EMI), which are holding talks with Google concerning the music's legalization.
В магазине Google Play недоступно приложение ВКонтакте. Мы разбираемся в случившемся. Пока можно скачать по ссылке http://t.co/ENAOv5pp1W
— George Lobushkin (@lobushkin) July 11, 2015
In February and at the end of April 2014, the application "VKontakte" for iOS was also removed from the AppStore. The application was back a few hours later, however two months later it was deleted again for a 90-day period.
Apple altered the VK app so that users were no longer able to use it to listen to music in February 2015.
The smartphone user penetration rate in Russia is expected to grow from 11 percent in 2007 to 69 percent by 2017.
Google's Android operating system has been the leading mobile operating system in Russia since July 2012. If the problem is not solved, the social network may see its number of active users decrease; the ability to create and share a playlist is one of the site's key features. Third-party computer software and apps have been developed that allow users to download the music to their own devices. The site currently has over 84.5 million users in Russia alone (the total Russian population is 143.5).
The ban may also backfire on Android: last month, the Russian Government announced plans to develop a "local" mobile operating system and the processors to go along with it.
Russia's Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Nikolai Nikiforov, has recently announced that his administration is to support the development of open-source IT software by awarding grants to developers who produce applications which run on platforms other than Google's Android and Apple's iOS.
