Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra Feels Days of Groundbreaking Apps are Gone 'It's tough to be a Facebook or an Uber and capture the pulse of the masses in the current mobile space.'

By Agamoni Ghosh

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Despite being dubbed as one of the fastest growing companies in the technology sector, augmented reality player Blippar's CEO is not bullish on any mobile app-based business, making a significant impact on the app market.

"The days of Facebook, Twitter and other Page 1 apps are gone. The last of the game-changing apps was Snapchat, which was a while ago. Everything you see now is either a Page 3 or Page 3 app," said Mitra, whose own venture is also part of the service space.

An expensive Affair

The app revolution that once defined how products and services were being sold is close to exhaustion, said the Entrepreneur. He also harped on the fact that it was no longer a cost-effective business and required mammoth capital.

"It's costly to maintain an app business as it's not just about the app but what goes on behind it. Even if we looked at pure apps that don't sell any physical product or service and are only limited to the digital space, only an insane amount of capital could support its operations in today's date," said Mitra.

Capturing the Pulse Difficult

It's tough to be a Facebook or an Uber and capture the pulse of the masses in the current mobile space. Most of the ideas that have had relative success are niche products, catering to a specific market successfully.

"Although the overall ideas are not entirely new, some niche apps are working. Fashion, food, lifestyle, fintech and more have picked up, but don't still see them as mass crowd pullers, unless they expand or massive capital is pumped in," said Mitra.

Not Giving up

The Entrepreneur, whose venture has been recognized as one of the most innovative tech companies in the world, asserted that despite the slump and the added costs, entrepreneurs needed to stand their ground when it came to supporting their ideas.

"Do it and do it even if you think it's not the right thing to do as that is the only way to learn. Yes, competitive benchmarking is important when it comes to the mobile space, but unless you take the risk you will not know what works," he added.

Agamoni Ghosh

Former Staff, Entrepreneur India

She was generating stories out of Bengaluru for Entrepreneur India. She has worked with leading national and international business publications, including Newsweek, Business Standard, and CNBC in the past. 

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