Chinese apps crack the code to address India's language barrier
Last month, Sharechat, a top vernacular content sharing platform, sued new entrant Helo for using its copying design and indulging in unfair competition. Helo, an app by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is a lot like Sharechat. Both have a timeline and content sharing features that, brashly put, resemble Instagram. But the moot here is local languages - over two dozens of them - and a razor-sharp focus on user-generated content that works with this target group. Facebook’s and Google’s of the world have been trying this for long, so have a few local ones, but when it comes to targeting the non-English speaking users in India, Chinese apps have been far more successful than anyone else. In the last 18 months, at least half a dozen apps have entered the Indian market including players such as Helo, Like, Clip, Tik Tok, Kwai and Vigo Video with a focus on either of the three categories-- social media and content sharing, news, or user-generated video. Interestingly, except...