MapmyIndia CEO refers to Ola Maps as a “gimmick” and just an announcement, saying “it is just not possible”
TECHNOLOGY | UPDATED:13:08:2024| 11:30 AM | EDITED BY: NEWSBUDY |
A growing controversy came to light in India’s digital navigation market when the CEO of MapmyIndia claims Ola’s new navigational map a gimmick and criticises it. As well as Ola disputes the allegations, sparking a legal dispute.
The CEO and Executive Director of MapmyIndia, Rohan Verma, has openly attacked Ola’s recent announcement that it is creating a navigational map for India, calling it a “gimmick” and putting doubt on the veracity of the company’s claims. This has caused controversy in the Indian digital navigation market. But Ola strongly rejects the claims, and also calling them “baseless” and an attempt on the part of MapmyIndia to stay relevant in the industry afterall.
ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola, purchased Geospoc Pvt Ltd, a startup that produced its map, which is known as Ola Maps. Verma expressed concerns about Ola’s claim in an interview with PTI after Ola Electric received a legal notice. And as well as Verma noted that it takes significant resources and experience—which also he doubts Geospoc has—to create a digital navigational map for a nation the size of India.
“Creating maps is a significant task. And also it needs a significant time, financial, and skill investment,” Verma said. “There are extremely few players worldwide that survived or succeeded, with many trying. And it just is not realistic for someone who has been actively using map data, APIs, and SDKs from other companies for several years to suddenly claim that they have made maps without the proper credentials and track record.”
Also, Verma ignored the threat that Ola Maps had to MapmyIndia’s operations and questioned the quality of Ola’s offering. Since we do not think a quality product will come from there, we don’t view it as a commercial risk. And also nA lot of people are expressing disappointment with Ola’s redesigned taxi and electric vehicle applications, claiming that the maps are poor quality and creating issues for customers. Also Verma stated, “Everyone is aware that these are only announcements and gimmicks.
In a July 23 legal notification, MapmyIndia accused Ola of violating the terms of a 2021 license agreement for the use of MapmyIndia’s software development kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) for navigation. Verma noted that Ola’s parent firm, ANI Technologies, had a long-standing license deal with MapmyIndia that dates back to 2015.
Ola answered Verma’s statements immediately. “Ola strongly rejects the baseless and personally motivated statements made by MapmyIndia,” an Ola official said in response to the allegations. And they are a blatant display of the business’s desperate attempts to discredit its rivals in order to remain relevant. The company’s advantage over superior and modern players in its single-product market is evident.”