Why I don't believe in Uber's Success

Post by beambot » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 10:24 PM UTC

discodave wrote: post #131

dageshi wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is in a low margin commodity business with massive amounts of competition, but they're still massive and becoming even bigger because they do what everyone else can do just that little bit better that there's no real reason to switch away.

Amazon actually didn't have much competition at a key point in it's growth, i.e. just after the dot com crash. Amazon survived, many did not and Amazon then had a few years to cement their dominance in the online shopping space. Amazon is also very different from Uber in that it a) went public earlier and b) didn't need huge outside cash injections like Uber and c) Wasn't making a huge gross loss on sales like people…

Post by zeveb » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 10:27 PM UTC

majormajor wrote: post #199

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #147

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Can't say I speak for everyone but I mostly walk to get to places and drive when I have to. I live close enough to an ALDI to get most of my groceries by walking and I can walk to work too. Owning a car means always needing a parking space, going out to get gas, paying for insurance, inspections, etc, having to be capable of driving (because when I'm sauced on a Saturday night I really want to get greasy food, but I…

> A car isn't much of a status symbol when most of your friends can't afford a nice one either. Kinda makes you look like a dick, in comparison. Isn't that exactly what makes it a status symbol? Keeping up with the Joneses, and all -- it's one thing to not play the game, but that doesn't mean a lot of people don't, and this seems to just be agreeing with what makes it a status symbol. Most American cities are suffici…

Post by ben0x539 » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 10:37 PM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #196

pdeuchler wrote: post #190

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AWS makes almost no money compared to their core business, it's around 10%, maybe a little bit more. The profit from AWS, however, is something like 50% of Amazon's total profit. That said, it's not hard to occupy a huge percentage of profits from Amazon since they purposefully run almost every other facet of the business at razor thin margins.

3.2 billion of revenue in one quarter [1] is is nothing to scoff at. However the more important point is without the profit from AWS, Amazon would still be posting huge deficits [2] and would probably face much higher shareholder pressure to produce. [1] http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/27/aws-reports-3-2-billion-in... [2] http://www.geekwire.com/2016/amazon-without-aws-online-retai...

Post by wrsh07 » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 10:48 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #204

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #173

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What about when your commute, without any concern for parking, is 10 minutes, max? I doubt it would be that expensive. Besides, I would only opt for transport if the weather was shitty or I was tired (which is the current case today).

> What about when your commute, without any concern for parking, is 10 minutes, max? I doubt it would be that expensive If you want a car at the precise time everybody else happens to be commuting and commuters are the principal users of on-demand car services, it doesn't really matter whether your commute is shorter than some of the others. It's one extra car needed to be available every day at the time when all the…

Post by dinkumthinkum » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 10:51 PM UTC

Keyframe wrote: post #39

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #30

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The author's not making the point that there is no margin, but rather that with self-driving cars it'll be a quick race to the bottom against competitors, thus eroding whatever margins Uber is left with after replacing human drivers.

Question is, who are competitors with same scope as them? I don't know any. They are already in position to just switch over. Others would have to build their network first. It's a running start that depends on them playing their cards right.