BENGALURU: The titans of the Indian start-up ecosystem locked horns over ‘App or website,’ a dilemma for future online business models, at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) 2015 here on Thursday.
Around 2,700 attendees and 43 exhibitors took part in ‘GMIC Bangalore 2015’. For months now, India’s internet businesses can’t seem to decide if they should focus solely on mobile applications or continue to run desktop websites. A panel comprising Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, InMobi’s Naveen Tewari and Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm debated the topic. Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV was the moderator.
Sachin Bansal said, “If the mobile app business is captured, the company wins half the battle. On the other hand, if one loses the niche market of mobile app, then the battle is lost in the burgeoning online market.”
However, Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal, differed saying that his company has rather gained after Myntra became an app-only portal. He said, “I find it to be the most consumer-unfriendly idea...”
Paytm presented the success of its online wallet service which uses the app-only model. Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm said, “The smart phone market has huge potential and for a startup, it is the right time to tap its potential.”
Naveen Tewari of InMobi, said, “The smart phone still has many logistical limitations and the current app ecosystem is not much user-friendly.”