Beyond the service apps, such as Zomato or Flipkart, I don’t have a single Desi app on my phone. One reason for that is the lack of good Made-In-India apps that can match or surpass their global counterparts. For example, there is no good photo editing app made by Indian developers. Or a good web browser. Or a good compass or jogging app. I do have Real Racing 3, which is now taken care of by Hyderabad-based Slingshot Studio. But Slingshot is essentially part of EA, a global company. Anyway, the game was created and maintained until last year by Australia’s Firemonkeys.

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Even when there are Desi alternatives available, such as Arattai, which is the toast of the town currently, or MX Player or MapMyIndia, I don’t use them. And I am not an outlier. It is the same for most people. We tend to not use Desi apps. The question is why?

Another question is why, even in some cases where Indian apps manage to create a buzz, and match the global ones on features and usability, they don’t succeed? We have seen this again and again. Hike, for example. Once, this app used to be more popular than WhatsApp in India. Or MX Player, which surged for quite some time. But inevitably they fizzle out. Why? In the answer to this question we can read the tea leaves and predict the future for Arattai, the messaging app from Zoho that is making people talk.

As far as I understand, there are several reasons.