User asks if anyone can beat Google’s app ecosystem; Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says “YouTube and Maps are the...” MapmyIndia responds

A post on X claiming “there is no way any start-up can beat the Google ecosystem” went viral after it showed a phone screen filled with Google apps including Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Drive, Photos, Calendar, Chrome, Meet, and Google TV. The post drew a direct reaction from Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, and later a response from MapmyIndia, adding momentum to an ongoing debate about whether Google’s platform-level dominance is disruptable.

Reacting to the claim, Srinivas argued that not all of Google’s products are equally entrenched.

He wrote: “YouTube and Maps are the hardest. Maybe even impossible. The rest are hard but doable.”

YouTube and Maps are the hardest. Maybe even impossible. The rest are hard but doable. https://t.co/AscXJZcbxS

— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) October 23, 2025

Another X user commented that the reason lies in the fact that “maps & youtube are not products, they’re networks,” referencing the compounding power of network effects and live feedback loops. Srinivas replied with one word: “Accurate.”

YouTube and Google Maps have structural moats that extend beyond design, UI, or distribution. YouTube is trained on a global supply of user-generated content and reinforced by creator economics, recommendation systems, and retention loops. Maps, by contrast, is built on continuous ingestion of geospatial data, corrections from user activity, carrier signals, and business listings, with stability improving with scale. Unlike an email client or notes app, these systems improve the more they are used and are costly to reproduce from scratch.

Indian digital mapping firm MapmyIndia responded in the broader discussion by pointing to progress in India-first navigation and compliance-aligned mapping layers. While not directly contesting Srinivas’ claim, the company suggested that success does not require replacing Google globally — local mapping players can still outperform Google on lanes, compliance constraints, EV-routing and hyperlocal context in markets where domestic specificity matters.