Uber's Rivals Forming an International Alliance 26
jfruh writes: Didi Kuaidi is China's biggest native ride-sharing app, and it's using its cash hoard to build an alliance to take on global giant Uber. On the heels of a $100 million investment in Lyft, the company is also investing in Ola, India's biggest entry in the market. The deals have been described as involving sharing technology and market knowledge. "We look forward to exchanging learnings from two of the worlds largest markets and the tremendous synergies this partnership can bring, towards our commitment of building mobility for a billion Indians," Ola said about the new deal in a statement Monday.
The taxis are going to join the alliance too (Score:5, Funny)
But they're running late to the meeting
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So they bathe in the ganges? That's hardly a mark in their favor.
haven't people learned... (Score:1)
...to stop using the word synergy in press releases?
I'm all for it. (Score:1)
Irrelevent. (Score:2)
Uber is going down on so many governmental levels. Competing with Uber? Competing to be knocked down and told to go away.
Can We Start (Score:2)
The worst thing that could happen (Score:2)
Is a Uber monopoly.
After they kill the taxi industry, they would then raise prices back as high or even higher then before.
So any competition is good.
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After they kill the taxi industry, they would then raise prices back as high or even higher then before.
This only works in markets with large barriers to entry (like cable service). Ride sharing has near zero barriers to entry, since anyone can have more than one ride-sharing app on their phone.
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On the contrary. Once Uber will have win its war against the taxi industry, barriers to entry will be huge. Since everyone will have Uber installed on its phone, an independent taxi driver will have 0 chances of getting called. Everybody could clone the Uber app tomorrow. The problem is getting both the drivers and the clients to use it, not only in one market, but internationally. The tourist traveling to Paris won't use a Uber competitor he has never heard of even if it's popular locally if he has the Ube
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Most people never travel out of their countries during their lifetime. Don't give that much importance on what you will do in Paris or what I'll do in Bogotá.
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But those who do use taxi services a lot.
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*yawn*
Uber is very popular in China. So many people I know use Uber exclusively rather than real cabs, foreigners and Chinese alike.. cheaper, cleaner, all around better service in general. "Real" cabs are more likely to scam you (ie. give you the run-around) or get in accidents, they often drive insanely aggressively. I'm both a driver (I don't mean for Uber) and passenger in China, and I can tell you: your wife is wrong. She's more than likely talking about the black santanas that hang around outside airp
Uber is evil - and already doomed (Score:2)
But when it comes down to it, their business is getting started less than a decade before robots are going to destroy their market.
Lets face it, we already have viable driverless cars, the only reason we don't already have them available for sale to the wealthy old folk that drive into farmer markets and wealthy parents of drunkard teena
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...their business is getting started less than a decade before robots are going to destroy their market.
I'm pretty sure self driving cars are included in Uber's plans:
http://www.businessinsider.com... [businessinsider.com]
Love to see an open source competitor (Score:2)
I've thought for a while an international collaboration between taxi companies via open source would be a great way for them to combat Uber. Rather than spin off a million of their own crappy little apps with terrible user experience, they could all be working together to make a nice piece of software they can all use.
One of the reasons Uber is great (for me anyway) is it works really really well when traveling. You turn up at a new place, load the app, and you know it will work. I can get a price estimate
The Coming Rideshare Wars (Score:2)
They will be bloody. And some may fall by the wayside faster than the competitive price drops that brought them there. But I fear that, through it all, no matter which company wins and loses...
I fear that the real losers will be: The Drivers.