Key Details of
Arattai
- What Was It?
- Name: Arattai (அரட்டை) – Tamil for “Chat” or “Gossip.”
- Type: A free, Tamil-language-focused instant messaging and community platform.
- Founder: B. Srinivasan (a former Zoho executive).
- Launch Date: Early 2020.
- Shutdown Date: Officially discontinued on February 14, 2024.
- Core Features & Functionality
- Tamil-First Interface: The entire app, including menus and settings, was in the Tamil script, making it highly accessible.
- Group Chats: Supported large group conversations, which became its primary use case.
- Community Building: Facilitated the creation of large, topic-specific groups (e.g., for movies, recipes, local news) rather than just personal chats.
- Media Sharing: Allowed users to share photos, videos, and files.
- Creator-Friendly: Served as a key platform for Tamil meme creators, artists, and musicians to build and engage with their audience directly.
- The Reason for Its Popularity & Cultural Impact
- Pandemic Launch: It perfectly capitalized on the lockdown-induced need for connection and community.
- Cultural Niche: It wasn’t just another chat app; it was a Tamil chat app, fostering a strong sense of cultural identity and belonging.
- Niche Communities: Became the go-to hub for hyper-specific Tamil-interest groups that weren’t well-served by global platforms.
- Organic Growth: Its growth was driven by word-of-mouth within the Tamil community, both in India and across the global diaspora.
- The Reason for Its Shutdown
- The primary reason cited was financial sustainability.
- Faced intense competition and market pressure from feature-rich, well-funded global giants like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.
- Despite a loyal user base, the challenges of scaling a niche, regional app and making it profitable ultimately led to the decision to discontinue the service.
- Key Legacy
- Proved Demand: Demonstrated there is a significant market for regionally-focused, language-first social platforms.
- Community Model: Pioneered a community-centric model that larger apps are now adopting.
- Unforgettable Era: It remains a memorable and beloved chapter in the digital history of the Tamil community, celebrated for its unique and authentic voice.
ISO/ROM File Download
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arattai.tv&hl=en_IN
- https://www.arattai.in/download.html
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aratai.chat&hl=en_IN
- https://apps.apple.com/in/app/arattai-messenger/id1522469944
- https://www.zohoflow.com/en-in/apps/arattai/integrations/login-signup-popup/
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Developer Description
- Primary Developer & Company:
- Company Name: Zoho Corporation
- Founder & Developer: B. Srinivasan (often known as Srinivasan BS), a long-time and senior director at Zoho.
- The Zoho Connection:
- Arattai was not a standalone startup but an internal project developed within Zoho.
- It was built by a small, dedicated team under Srinivasan’s leadership, operating with the agility of a startup but with the backing of Zoho’s extensive resources and infrastructure.
- This is a common practice for Zoho, which is known for empowering its leaders to incubate new ideas.
- About B. Srinivasan:
- He is a veteran at Zoho, with a tenure spanning over two decades.
- He has been instrumental in building and leading several key teams, including the Zoho Mail team and the Zoho Chat (internal business communication tool) team.
- His experience in building communication platforms directly influenced the development of Arattai.
- He is known for his deep understanding of the Indian market and a focus on building products that cater to regional, non-metropolitan users.
- The Developer’s Vision:
Srinivasan and his team identified a specific gap in the market:
- Language-First Focus: They wanted to build a messaging app that was not just capable of typing in Tamil but was natively Tamil in its entire user interface.
- Community over Contacts: The vision was to create a platform for building large, interest-based communities (like a “Tamil Clubhouse”) rather than just replicating the personal contact-based model of WhatsApp.
- Serving the Next Billion Users: The goal was to create a product that felt familiar and accessible to Tamil speakers who were not necessarily fluent in English or comfortable with global apps’ complex interfaces.
- Why This Detail Matters:
The developer’s background is crucial to understanding Arattai’s story:
- It wasn’t a random experiment. It was built by an experienced team with a proven track record in communication software.
- It had corporate backing. Its failure wasn’t due to a lack of initial funding or technical expertise but due to market dynamics and the challenges of competing with global giants.
- It highlights Zoho’s strategy. Zoho has a history of building successful, bootstrapped products for businesses and niche markets. Arattai was an ambitious attempt to apply this philosophy to the social messaging space.
In short, Arattai was a passion project born from within one of India’s most respected tech giants, led by a seasoned developer who understood the power of language and community.