(Yicai) Sept. 1 -- Internet giant Baidu will shut its mobile device management tool 91 Assistant at the end of this month, drawing a line under a USD1.9 billion acquisition from the jailbreak period of China’s mobile internet 12 years ago, as official app stores eclipse third-party marketplaces.

91 Assistant, used on both personal computers and smartphones, will cease all services at 11.59 p.m. on Sept. 27, the platform announced yesterday. That includes, but is not limited to, features such as phone connection management, file transfer, app installation and uninstallation, as well as system cleaning.

The platform advised users to back up their data before the deadline, warning that once services end, all data stored on 91 Assistant will be permanently lost and unrecoverable. 91 Assistant will issue refunds to users who still have active memberships, but only if they apply for it, it said.

Baidu splashed out USD1.9 billion to acquire 91 Wireless, the parent company of 91 Assistant, in 2013, as part of its mobile internet strategy. The deal was considered jaw-dropping at the time, eclipsing even Yahoo’s USD1 billion investment in Alibaba Group Holding in 2005.

Beijing-based Baidu has yet to comment on the matter.

As one of the first cross-terminal and cross-platform content distribution platforms, 91 Assistant had amassed over 100 million users on iOS and Android platforms as of 2013, while its content distribution platform 91 Wireless had logged more than 10 billion downloads.

91 Wireless made a name for itself China’s biggest iOS jailbreak platform. This enabled it to attract many users, monetizing through ads and game partnerships.

91 Wireless made a name for itself as China’s largest iOS jailbreak platform, which refers to a technique that unlocks Apple’s closed mobile operating system. This attracted a huge user base which wanted to bypass the restrictions and install cracked paid apps for free and modified third-party software. 91 Wireless monetized this through adverts, game partnerships, and other means.

However, as Apple's App Store and Android phone makers’ own app stores matured and became more user friendly, demand for third-party tools such as 91 Assistant waned.

In February 2020, Baidu issued a decommissioning notice, saying that its mobile open platform would no longer support uploads and management for the 91 Assistant and Android market app packages, although some services would remain operational.

That same month, Hangzhou-based Alibaba shut PP Assistant, another app download platform similar to 91 Assistant. Both its iOS version, PC version and iOS services went offline permanently in February 2020.

Editor: Kim Taylor