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Mobile apps that bombed despite big names

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CIOL Writers
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CIOL Mobile apps that bombed despite big names

Hundreds of apps are launched every year but have you ever wondered how many of them really make money. Unfortunately, very few. The success rate for apps is abysmally low.

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Some analysts say app fever is over. Not really. The market for apps, I would say is still huge because as users we love to try out new things and always want more. If there are no incentives to stick to one app, we prefer to move over to new one that offers something.

If you think, the core idea needs to be strong or the utility factor, mind you the failure rate for so-called useful healthcare apps is more than fifty percent. Then, who or what exactly decides that an app would work. The answer is no one. It’s true that there are factors that go into the making of an app but if you wish to pen down the deciding feature, it’s the user segment which, to say the least, is unpredictable.

On that note, let’s have a look at few apps that bombed despite having all the right ingredients.

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PepperTap

CIOL Mobile apps that bombed despite big names

PepperTap quit online grocery retail market this May after a short 18-month startup journey. Wafer thin gross margins, huge marketing costs and adding to this the discount-hungry, disloyal consumers- all these went into making PepperTap a big failure.

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Though the offline retail industry in India is over US$500 billion in size annually, however, none of the tech startups have been able to successfully assimilate the grocery buyer in India.

In words of Navneet Singh, CEO of PepperTap “We operated on a negative margin per delivery and in such a scenario, the path to profitability looked very distant, at least two to three years.”

Indian customers prefer the web way only when it comes with exciting discounts. The discount-hungry users wane away as soon as the schemes stop. Another reason why lots of grocery online chains suffer is because they follow GBF (Grow Big Fast) theory instead of cracking the business in one city at a time. PepperTap aggressively expanded to smaller towns but then it withdrew because of low order volume and high operational inefficiencies in these smaller cities.

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Secret

CIOL Mobile apps that bombed despite big names

Secret was an app that allowed for anonymous posting of snippets of text, often rumors or confessions, that were shared with people. It was a rage at SXSW and rose along with other anonymous apps like Whisper and Yik Yak.

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However, like many anonymous apps, Secret had problems with cyberbullying and eventually redesigned itself to look like its competitor Yik Yak.

In his farewell blog post, CEO David Byttow wrote that Secret "does not represent the vision I had when starting the company". He continued: "I believe in honest, open communication and creative expression, and anonymity is a great device to achieve it. But it’s also the ultimate double-edged sword, which must be wielded with great respect and care."

Samsung Milk music

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CIOL Mobile apps that bombed despite big namesWhen the reports about Samsung shutting down its music service, Milk Music started surfacing, many didn’t even know that an app like that ever existed. Samsung will shutter Milk Music on Sept. 22 where it joins Samsung’s Milk Video in the Graveyard of Samsung Media Services that no one wanted except Samsung executives.

Overestimating the power of a distribution platform, Samsung launched its media services that no one used. With plenty choices, control of the platform doesn’t mean customers are going to use your media/apps/services.

Apple might have been successful with iTunes but its no guarantee. Its arch-rival Spotify infact has grown faster than Cupertino Company without the benefit of an owned and operated platform.

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Google Wave

CIOL Mobile apps that bombed despite big namesI am sure, many of you will be like, what’s that? To summarize, Google Wave was supposed to be the ultimate communication tool that was unveiled in May 2009 to an enthusiastic crowd of developers at the Google I/O event in San Francisco. It would “set a new benchmark for interactivity,” said Sergey Brin.

The product that was part email, part Twitter and part instant messaging got too complex for users and was pulled about six months after it launched mainly because it was quite hard to use and did not see user adoption as expected.

Google did not or could not tell people what it is that Wave was supposed to do. This is something that Wave failed at- a simple explanation of the product.

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