MapMyIndia had already taken Ola to the courts for allegedly stealing its data to build Ola Maps, but it is still hitting out at the recently-listed company.
MapMyIndia CEO Rohan Verma has called Ola Maps a “gimmick”, and hinted that it’s a “fly-by-night” product. “The accuracy of these various competitors’ maps is definitely something that people will find very much lacking. It’s not easy to build an accurate map. On the product side, people should be very careful of these gimmicky, Fly By Night products,” he said in an interview. Two weeks ago, MapMyIndia had sent Ola a legal notice for stealing its data to launch its own Ola Maps.
Verma also said that Ola Maps’ release wouldn’t affect its own maps business. “We don’t see a business risk, because we don’t see a good product coming from there. People are complaining left, right and centre, about their (Ola) updated cab app, their updated electric vehicle app, that their maps are pathetic and causing users problems. Everybody knows that these are more announcements and gimmicks, but the quality of that product,” he added.
Ola, for its part, has hit back at Verma’s statements. “Ola strongly refutes the baseless and motivated statements made by MapmyIndia. They are a clear indication of the company’s desperate attempts to stay relevant by maligning its competitors,” an Ola spokesperson said. “The company’s single-product business has clearly lost its edge to superior and new-age players. Ola has responded to MapmyIndia’s legal notice and now the responsibility rests with them to prove their case. Ola stands by the integrity of its business and will take all steps needed to protect its interests,” they added.
Last month, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had announced that Ola had developed its own Ola Maps, which it would use to replace Google Maps. Aggarwal had said that Ola would save Rs. 100 crore per year from the move. Ola had then made Ola Maps available on its Krutrim Cloud at rock bottom prices, and encouraged Indian developers to switch to it from Google Maps. Google too had appeared to take notice of the new launch, and slashed prices of Google Maps for Indian developers. Ola had then in turn slashed its prices once again, and offered Ola Maps for free for as long as two years for small developers.
But soon after its release, MapMyIndia had claimed that Ola had built its maps product using illegally obtained data, and sent it a legal notice. Ola had been using MapMyIndia’s services till 2021, and MapMyIndia alleges that Ola used this collaboration to surreptitiously build its own maps product, and then offer it to other users. It remains to be seen how this case plays out in the courts, but it’s clear that at the moment, there’s no love lost between two of India’s top new-age listed companies.