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Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

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Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#31
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't think self-driving vehicles face an enormous uphill regulation battle, you are sorely, sorely mistaken! Politics haven't even entered the self-driving game yet. They will and every union associated with driving is going to freak the fuck out. It will be a bloody political mess.

I think you may be misreading me. I'm not saying they are imminent. I am saying Uber's business model sucks without the lower costs they deliver. Anything that delays them means Uber burns more cash subsidizing cheap prices to hold back competition. And once they do arrive, competitors can enter the market with lower costs. Or, maybe Uber isn't losing as much as it seems? (Estimates are $2+bn/yr) Or there is some moa…

If they need self-driving cars to be profitable, they might as well hang it up, seriously its not happening for a long while. I don't think that is the case, however.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#32
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving is so far out as a door-to-door taxi service as to be utterly irrelevant to Uber's business model.

I'm not sure it's 'so far out' Waymo is running such a service in Phoenix: https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/25/waymo-begins-first-public-...

Right. Because the fact that there's a Google employee in the driver's seat ready to take over control makes no difference whatsoever.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#33
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's your problem there! :D Self driving cars are just hype that won't be any significant for another decade. You should forget about self driving cars. What Uber has right now is real, a massive customer base and network of taxi, that is bringing billions of dollars. They could totally focus on that and have a strong and sustainable business.

Sans self driving cars, Uber loses cash. You seem to think shedding employees is enough to fix that. Closing a $2 to $3bn/yr loss with just layoffs seems hard. Eliminating subsidies puts competitors on a level playing field. I can sell dollar bills for 90 cents and be incredibly popular too. I just don't have the panache to sell that plan to Saudis.

Think of competitors as friends.

They bring you business. Yes, it helps you that the taxi can have a phone with lyft in the same car. It gives the illusion of choice and it gives an alternative to the driver.

In the end, your business has 90% market share. It's not going away overnight. Market share is actually self sustaining and it's giving you a strong edge for the future.

Competitors don't have 1/10th of the cash. If they get try to compete on subsidies, they'll get a peak of traffic and run out.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#34

The more the merrier. At this point, I'd hate for Uber to have a monopoly in this market.

Lyft?

Lyft isn't available in a LOT of places. Not even in all the major cities in North America unlike say, Uber.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#35
post #18

Am I the only one that was wondering why the dialup ISP Juno.com was considered a rival to Uber? Guess it's a different Juno.. TIL Juno.com still offers dial-up for $15.95/mo. Gone are the days of free dial-up with obnoxious banner ads.

I was confused why Juno Therapeutics would be competing with Uber. They have the ticker symbol JUNO on Nasdaq.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_Therapeutics

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#36
post #9

I prefer Gett for long commute. It gives you a firm quote so if your Uber/Lyft/Juno driver messed up enroute or there's a traffic, you don't pay the extra. From a user's perspective, this saves me money. I would take Gett to Barclay Center knowing Uber and Lyft would charge me high premium after game. Or trip from Manhattan back to Queens. There's also an option to make extra stop which is nice! Gett cars are the reg…

Do you just not use Uber Pool/Lyft Line? Those provide fixed prices and seem many times cheaper than the rates on Gett/Juno. Currently Lyft line is $25 to get me to Brooklyn, while Gett is $60.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#37
post #18

Am I the only one that was wondering why the dialup ISP Juno.com was considered a rival to Uber? Guess it's a different Juno.. TIL Juno.com still offers dial-up for $15.95/mo. Gone are the days of free dial-up with obnoxious banner ads.

There are a few who still offer free dial-up. No banner ads, since they make money by doing traffic pumping.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#38
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they need to be a monopoly to succeed? I personally dislike Uber based on all the latest PR but what if they actually achieve a self driving car? If so, this would change the business entirely because no more contractor's to pay. Do you think if one company has self driving cars and the rest don't this is a competitive advantage? Perhaps they license the self driving car software to other companies which also…

Self-driving is so far out as a door-to-door taxi service as to be utterly irrelevant to Uber's business model.

It isn't irrelevant in the slightest if their plan is to replace all these contract drivers with automated cars. That would in fact be a long term business strategy. Considering waymo's lawsuit for alleged theft and their large monetary investment in self driving I disagree with being utterly irrelevant.

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#39
post #18

Am I the only one that was wondering why the dialup ISP Juno.com was considered a rival to Uber? Guess it's a different Juno.. TIL Juno.com still offers dial-up for $15.95/mo. Gone are the days of free dial-up with obnoxious banner ads.

There are a few who still offer free dial-up. No banner ads, since they make money by doing traffic pumping.

What's traffic pumping?

Re: Gett in advanced talks to buy Juno for $250M as Uber rivals consolidate

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few who still offer free dial-up. No banner ads, since they make money by doing traffic pumping.

What's traffic pumping?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_pumping
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