>Uber is just a dispatch service I don't think you are taking into account UberPool. HN comments almost never do, perhaps because programmers are generally upp

>Uber is just a dispatch service I don't think you are taking into account UberPool. HN comments almost never do, perhaps because programmers are generally upper income and do not feel a need to trade money for inconvenience, but UberX is basically a legacy product and now presented as more of an upgrade if you're in a hurry, rather than the default mode. UberPool is everything. A network of cars buzzing around the city dynamically routing from one task (transport passenger, transport package, deliver food, etc) to the next, and each task is cheaper because it can share ride segments with other customers. That is where the winner-take-all argument comes from - the bigger the network, the more efficiently Uber can pack multiple tasks into the same driver-hours, with less delay (more jobs means the car doesn't have to go as far out of its way to share capacity). Uber is more than dispatch - it's quality control, reputation, dispute resolution, capacity planning, payment escrow, (soon to be) routing (it bought a few mapping companies), commercial insurance (try buying that on your own), and increasingly, the efficiency provided by combining multiple tasks in each car. When people call Uber a taxi service - when is the last time a taxi offered you a cheaper ride if you agreed to share the car for 5 blocks with a guy 10 blocks down the road? Disclaimer: I used to work there. Throwaway because I'd rather keep identifying information off my personal account. Opinion is my own, I do not speak for Uber, etc.