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Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

money.cnn.com

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Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#41

Post by JonFish85 »

I'm sure it's not a popular opinion, but when Uber itself is a business that seems to exist on the border of legality, this type of stuff isn't that much of a surprise to me. Uber et al. specifically skirt around regulations that cab companies have to abide by, which, at least in my opinion, sets the tone at the top that legality and ethics are somewhat secondary to the mission of the company.

IMPORTANT: I've used Uber, and the experience has been great. All I'm saying is that I don't love the cavalier attitude towards city regulations on taxis, and that I think that attitude flows down the chain.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#42

Post by Gorbzel »

Lots of bantering about whether or not it's ethical / low. tl;dr: It probably is; Travis probably doesn't care.

Honestly, since all that really matters to Uber is $$ and being forced to deal with the law (and even then only barely), Gett should just sue them. It's clearly illegal (putting aside differences between NY/CA law) and it proves the point in a way they'll be forced to notice.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#43

Post by ajju »

pmorici wrote: post #9
EvanL wrote: post #3

I love it, great scrappiness from the local team. As CEO i'd have a good chuckle, and tell them to tone it down a bit. Generous of the article to refer to Gett as a "rival" and not a clone.

Was Uber really the 'first'? Lyft a similar service came out of zimride.com which was doing ride sharing as early as 2007 though perhaps not through a smart phone in real time.

No, the idea of matching riders to driver using a GPS enabled phone is at least as old as 2001: http://www.google.com/patents/US6697730

Zimride did indeed launch in 2007 as a Facebook based carpooling app. It wasn't real-time at that time. Don't know if/when Zimride built an iPhone app but I built a real-time ridesharing iPhone app in 2008: http://ridecell.com/gt/

Uber started in 2009.

Disclaimer: The company I started, InstantCab, competes directly with Uber.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#44

Post by tvon »

67726e wrote: post #24
joosters wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA: "If Uber employees intentionally diverted Gett drivers from legitimate business by making phony calls, that is an unfair business practice, illegal under California law," he said. "It is also an intentional interference with Gett's business which makes them liable for money damages."

Except the incident occurred in New York state and they consulted someone about California state law? I'd guess most states have similar laws so it is a bit of a moot point.

Uber is based in San Francisco, which may be why they asked a San Francisco-based attorney.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#45

Post by theorique »

JonFish85 wrote: post #41

I'm sure it's not a popular opinion, but when Uber itself is a business that seems to exist on the border of legality, this type of stuff isn't that much of a surprise to me. Uber et al. specifically skirt around regulations that cab companies have to abide by, which, at least in my opinion, sets the tone at the top that legality and ethics are somewhat secondary to the mission of the company. IMPORTANT: I've used Ub…

That's the way startups work - you have to move fast, break stuff, work on the edge of the rules, and disrupt the stagnant markets, man.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#47

Post by saosebastiao »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #33

One man's dirty tricks is another man's free market - http://pando.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/ Who needs pesky Taxi and Limousine Commission busybodies to ensure people aren't arbitrarily blacklisted from being able to call a cab?

But who will watch the watchers?

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#48

Post by ajju »

JonFish85 wrote: post #41

I'm sure it's not a popular opinion, but when Uber itself is a business that seems to exist on the border of legality, this type of stuff isn't that much of a surprise to me. Uber et al. specifically skirt around regulations that cab companies have to abide by, which, at least in my opinion, sets the tone at the top that legality and ethics are somewhat secondary to the mission of the company. IMPORTANT: I've used Ub…

I think it is important to draw a distinction between challenging local regulations like million dollar medallions that hurt both drivers and riders and laws that prevent companies from hurting their competitors to steal their supply, the way it happened here.

There are many companies challenging the first kind of regulation that wouldn't indulge in the breaking the second kind of law. Disclaimer: I started one of them - InstantCab, which competes directly with Uber and Gett.

Re: Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics

#49

Post by [deleted] »

sp332 wrote: post #4

Order forms provided to CNNMoney show that more than a dozen Uber employees were involved, including community managers, operations managers, Uber's general manager, and the company's social media strategist. So much for blaming "our New York team". Why does the bit at the end discuss California law? This happened in New York.

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