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I would add that their flanking Uber internationally (China) failed. Whoever purchases them would want some asset whose value isn't tied to fighting Uber head-t

I would add that their flanking Uber internationally (China) failed. Whoever purchases them would want some asset whose value isn't tied to fighting Uber head-to-head. Perhaps the network could be valuable to Google? I notice that Waze seems to be inching in that direction, and perhaps they could get value from the mapping too. The ride-sharing market seems to have network effects, which means the service with 80% of the market will get much more than 80% of the profit.

joelrunyon 10y ago
I believe Google has a not-insignificant stake in Uber already. Would be interesting to see them on both sides.
- supster 10y ago
  Google is in a really interesting spot: - They own a significant stake in Uber via GV (formerly Google Ventures) - They own Google Maps, which everyone relies on at the moment - They own the most advanced self driving car and are closest to Level 4 autonomy - They own Waze, and have a significant community there In my mind they should acquire Lyft, let it run as is. Then when they are ready to go primetime with their self driving cars, start piloting them as a cheaper/free option within the Lyft app. If the pilot works, expand the cars nationwide and aggressively finance the fleet using their balance sheet.
  - shostack 10y ago
    What is really interesting about that is Google's ability to price it as a loss leader propped up by the ad business. They could even tie in a new AdWords extension to let people pay to have customers driven somewhere. They could completely undercut Uber on price AND have better data sets.
  - mars4rp 10y ago
    I think at the end of the day Google will win this game with their self driving cars. Why they should buy Lyft and compete with Uber and lose billions of dollars, the better strategy is to get the self driving car first before anyone else and come in and crush Uber and Lyft and whoever is in the market. this will not get sued by driver and will not be under scrutiny by the regulators!!
cookiecaper 10y ago
We're getting to the point where the siloed web is causing serious problems for commerce and competition. The "network effects" you refer to are a symptom of laws like the CFAA, which make it illegal to get data hosted on someone else's server, even if you do it in a completely non-disruptive manner. How would it have worked out if different companies could own stretches of the primary thoroughfare and forbid access to the employees and agents of their competitors? What if Google bought all the streets surrounding Apple and declared that Apple employees couldn't travel on them, lest they face legal action? That's essentially what we have happening online. Real competition is being seriously impeded by laws that allow companies to make it impossible to access data that the user has the right to access. If we really see the internet as the Information Superhighway, we need to stop restricting access based on corporate interest. The data needs to be accessible. Only then will customers be free to choose the application they want to use based on how well it performs its promised functions, instead of based on its holding the relevant data hostage.

joelrunyon 10y ago

I believe Google has a not-insignificant stake in Uber already. Would be interesting to see them on both sides.

supster 10y ago
Google is in a really interesting spot: - They own a significant stake in Uber via GV (formerly Google Ventures) - They own Google Maps, which everyone relies on at the moment - They own the most advanced self driving car and are closest to Level 4 autonomy - They own Waze, and have a significant community there In my mind they should acquire Lyft, let it run as is. Then when they are ready to go primetime with their self driving cars, start piloting them as a cheaper/free option within the Lyft app. If the pilot works, expand the cars nationwide and aggressively finance the fleet using their balance sheet.
- shostack 10y ago
  What is really interesting about that is Google's ability to price it as a loss leader propped up by the ad business. They could even tie in a new AdWords extension to let people pay to have customers driven somewhere. They could completely undercut Uber on price AND have better data sets.
- mars4rp 10y ago
  I think at the end of the day Google will win this game with their self driving cars. Why they should buy Lyft and compete with Uber and lose billions of dollars, the better strategy is to get the self driving car first before anyone else and come in and crush Uber and Lyft and whoever is in the market. this will not get sued by driver and will not be under scrutiny by the regulators!!

cookiecaper 10y ago

We're getting to the point where the siloed web is causing serious problems for commerce and competition. The "network effects" you refer to are a symptom of laws like the CFAA, which make it illegal to get data hosted on someone else's server, even if you do it in a completely non-disruptive manner. How would it have worked out if different companies could own stretches of the primary thoroughfare and forbid access to the employees and agents of their competitors? What if Google bought all the streets surrounding Apple and declared that Apple employees couldn't travel on them, lest they face legal action? That's essentially what we have happening online. Real competition is being seriously impeded by laws that allow companies to make it impossible to access data that the user has the right to access. If we really see the internet as the Information Superhighway, we need to stop restricting access based on corporate interest. The data needs to be accessible. Only then will customers be free to choose the application they want to use based on how well it performs its promised functions, instead of based on its holding the relevant data hostage.