I am traveling right now in India, and Uber is a huge boon: no more haggling, no hassles, no arguing: just call up Uber and go. I've been making it a point to a

I am traveling right now in India, and Uber is a huge boon: no more haggling, no hassles, no arguing: just call up Uber and go. I've been making it a point to ask the drivers what they think about Uber. The interesting part is, when Uber first came to town, they would offer a flat fee: Rupees 60,000/month, as long as the driver kept the app open 10 hours/day, and didn't refuse rides. So many drivers signed up, that many of them spent the entire day just hanging around, giving 2-3 rides/day. So Uber outspent the competition heavily, taking huge losses. But now, with the glut of drivers in Uber, their payment has gone down significantly: they pay based on the number of rides a driver makes. For example, for 17 rides, Uber pays about Rs 3000. The problem is: most rides are < Rs 100, so Uber is still offering rides at a loss. So, the answer to the question "why Uber won" is: by spending lavishly.