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How Uber Got Lost

nytimes.com

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Re: How Uber Got Lost

#91

Post by naveen99 »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #44
dumbfoundded wrote: post #15

I think NYT misses the point. The problem with Uber isn't some cultural issue, it's that they're in an extremely tough and competitive business. It's really a race to the bottom. The logic I kept hearing repeated is ride-sharing is a winner take all market. Like once you have a network of drivers setup giving people the lowest times for rides, you can force other competitors out and raise prices. Time has proven how…

Winner Takes “All” is an incomplete sentence. All what? All profits or all losses?

All rise !

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#92

Post by ghaff »

usrusr wrote: post #56
paulcole wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone talks about Uber being a bet on self-driving cars but how do they “win”? Are they going to own and maintain an absolutely massive fleet of self-driving cars which they can’t afford? If they’re leasing self-driving cars from the owners, you’re right back where you started, paying people to use their cars. Or is the idea they somehow figure out self-driving technology, license it to Ford or whoever, and then s…

One model could be sticking to what they are doing now (payment/dispatch platform), but allowing the independent "investors" in rolling stock who also personally drive their investments to get slowly replaced by independent fleet operators who can be any scale, because the cars drive themselves. But that certainly does not explain why Uber would try their hands at developing self-driving tech themselves (or why the c…

If you posit rentable (by mile/hour/day) autonomous vehicles available for purchase on the market, why wouldn't Hertz, Avis, National, etc. be the obvious owners and operators? They'd need to distribute their parking for these vehicles more than it is today. (Although Avis does own Zipcar.) But that seems like a pretty tractable problem.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#94

Post by H8crilA »

cryptica wrote: post #73

Uber didn't get lost. It simply was never the kind of company that could acquire a monopoly big enough and fast enough to justify a multi-billion dollar valuation. I'm starting to think that many of the most successful tech companies of the past decade are not real monopolies but succeeded purely because the centralization of capital made it difficult for alternative projects to compete for a limited period of time.…

Billionaire half life is around 20 years. From 1995 till 2015 around 50% of billionaires dropped out of the league:

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/21/most-billionaires-lost-a-com...

Big money doesn't equate smart money.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#95

Post by xiaolingxiao »

cryptica wrote: post #73

Uber didn't get lost. It simply was never the kind of company that could acquire a monopoly big enough and fast enough to justify a multi-billion dollar valuation. I'm starting to think that many of the most successful tech companies of the past decade are not real monopolies but succeeded purely because the centralization of capital made it difficult for alternative projects to compete for a limited period of time.…

[flagged]

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#96

Post by jeremyjh »

cryptica wrote: post #73

Uber didn't get lost. It simply was never the kind of company that could acquire a monopoly big enough and fast enough to justify a multi-billion dollar valuation. I'm starting to think that many of the most successful tech companies of the past decade are not real monopolies but succeeded purely because the centralization of capital made it difficult for alternative projects to compete for a limited period of time.…

The whole premise of a monopoly was never sound. There is no cost to drivers to run multiple apps, and no cost to users to use multiple apps. You don't care who is on your network, you only care who can get me the fastest and cheapest ride right now.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#97

Post by CydeWeys »

sokoloff wrote: post #84
freehunter wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to compete with the company, but hard to compete with the VC money Uber pulls in. Uber's only competitive advantage is the $24b they were given to keep them alive. If VCs keep funding Uber, Uber is unstoppable. But as soon as that money runs out, they're just another taxi company. Except they're a taxi company who loses $350 million dollars every month. That's not hard to compete against.

Or are they a taxi company that makes $100MM/month and spends $450MM on R&D that they could stop if they aspired to only be a taxi company? (I think UBER is comically over-valued, but I also think their core business is probably quite profitable.)

They're spending a lot of money on subsidizing rides still. More than on speculative R&D.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#98

Post by whenchamenia »

jrockway wrote: post #41
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber feels different for some reason. Maybe it's the lack of transparency with salary. With a regular job, you get paid x dollars an hour. That's it. You may get paid minimum wage, but at least you know it's minimum wage. With Uber, a lot of people come in with expectations of a high salary (falsely perpetuated by Uber), then end up making a whole lot less. Sometimes less than minimum wage. Maybe it's the semi-predat…

I mean, you're trapped in a confined space with the driver. The same is not true with cashiers, receptionists, or janitors. That is why it feels different. "This is awkward, I'm out," doesn't work at 60mph on the freeway.

Tuck and roll. Cover the head and keep your extremities pulled in. If sliding on the road, rotate as you slide to lessen roadrash, do not attempt to run. If in anything thicker than wet grass, roll. Protect your neck and spine the best you can, rolling from shoulder to hip, diagnally. Leather is your friends here, even thick jeans will qickly rip above 35.

-has 'this is akward im out'ed on a motorcycle at 60ish a few times. Only recommended for the worst of conversationlists.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#99

Post by ehnto »

sokoloff wrote: post #82
CydeWeys wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's almost impossible to stop competitors in ride-sharing because the cost of switching for customers is low, there are no legal or capital ex competitive barriers, and you can be picked apart city by city." This is so true. I only ever take rideshare to/from airports, and those trips are sufficiently expensive that it makes sense for me to spend the extra minute to launch the four different ridesharing apps I have…

I was the "only has Uber" ride share user for a long time. Then I landed at Orlando and Uber was going to be $60+ for a 15 minute ride. Even though my company was paying for it, that was BS and I added Lyft on the spot. Lyft now gets probably 70% of my rides. That afternoon was a very costly surge for Uber.

Would a taxi have cost $60? They tend to also have the pro of already being at the airport.

I don't think "anti-taxi" was why most people picked up Uber, rather it was cheaper. So if that isn't the case then going to a taxi rank makes a lot of sense in many cases.

Re: How Uber Got Lost

#100

Post by sokoloff »

ehnto wrote: post #99
sokoloff wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was the "only has Uber" ride share user for a long time. Then I landed at Orlando and Uber was going to be $60+ for a 15 minute ride. Even though my company was paying for it, that was BS and I added Lyft on the spot. Lyft now gets probably 70% of my rides. That afternoon was a very costly surge for Uber.

Would a taxi have cost $60? They tend to also have the pro of already being at the airport. I don't think "anti-taxi" was why most people picked up Uber, rather it was cheaper. So if that isn't the case then going to a taxi rank makes a lot of sense in many cases.

If Lyft was not reasonably priced, I'd have checked on the taxi situation. It turns out Lyft was $21 and change and I gave a $4 tip. If a cab was going to be $60 each way as well, I may have even gone and rented a car.

I am spoiled by the ride hailing apps; a medallioned taxi is a distant last resort for me personally. I may never call for a cab again in my life and that'll be just fine for me. Walking up to an airport cab stand is convenient and certain, so that's still in play.

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