MapmyIndia To Go All In To Take On Google In The B2C Space In FY24: CEO Rohan Verma

MapmyIndia will go all-in to take on tech giant Google in the B2C space in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), the geotech company’s CEO Rohan Verma said.

Speaking at Inc42’s The Makers Summit 2023, Verma said, “When it comes to consumers, we deeply understand the needs of the consumers because we can all benefit from the maps and navigation.”

“We’ve built a consumer app and the challenge on the consumer side is to get the product into the hands of many consumers,” he added.

According to the CEO, MapmyIndia stayed away from the B2C space till now to first build heft on the enterprise side. “We did not want to bet the entire company only on the consumer side,” Verma said.

On the marketing playbook for the B2C segment, Verma said, “I’ll be honest, that’s the challenge we’ve set ourselves up for FY24.”

According to him, the company has two key offerings for B2C users – Mappls app and Mappls gadget ecosystem. “One is the Mappls app, which has options far beyond Google Maps in terms of navigation, search and hyperlocal discovery, and a plethora of Mappls gadgets.” 

These gadgets include CarEye, a dashcam which allows users to monitor their vehicles remotely via the Mappls app, infotainment systems, and a heads-up display helmet for two-wheeler riders called Navisor.

“Really, on the consumer side, telling people the benefits of Mappls gadgets, which pair with the Mappls app and keep users safe on the roads and making their rides fun would be one aspect (of marketing),” Verma said.

Besides the smart helmet, MapMyIndia also offers trackers for vehicles, dashcams, and audio video navigation systems.

Verma has been vocal about MapmyIndia’s competition against Google Maps and how regulatory challenges don’t have much of an impact on the tech giant. 

Hinting at Google, Verma said that MapmyIndia’s marketing playbook would depend on the outcome of the tech giant’s appeal against the penalty slapped by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on the US-based company.

“…if the competition rules open up or the situation opens up on the competition side that has really kept us stifled…there will be one path that we would take. If it doesn’t, then we’ll have to take a different path. Basis of the court’s decision, we will unfold with our playbook for the year,” he said.

It must be noted that the CCI slapped a combined penalty of INR 2,274 Cr on Google in two separate cases last year for abuse of its dominant position in the Android market and anti-competitive Play Store policies.

Verma earlier told Inc42 that Google has forced Google Maps on Android phones at the expense of competition such as MapmyIndia despite being a late entrant in the Indian market.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is expected to soon give its verdict on Google’s appeal against the CCI penalty in the Android case as the arguments in the case have concluded.

Earlier in January, MapmyIndia also filed a petition in the Supreme Court calling for making it a party to the case between Google and the CCI. The startup argued that any attempt to delay the implementation of the competition watchdog’s verdict would render the entire ‘relief package’ ‘meaningless’.

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