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> What competitive edge does Uber have > I know they have pervasive brand awareness and a large driver network Look what happened to Uber in China where a loc

by imron 10y ago

> What competitive edge does Uber have > I know they have pervasive brand awareness and a large driver network Look what happened to Uber in China where a local competitor had pervasive brand awareness and a large driver network before Uber got established there. Uber bled cash, and bled some more cash, and bled some more cash while trying to build market share, and then finally gave up and sold their business to their competitor. That's basically what's stopping a well-funded company from entering the market as a competitor, an aversion to bleeding cash to build market share which they might not ever be able to do.

ethanbond 10y ago
Well no because Uber is still bleeding cash pretty much everywhere and this relies on the assumption someone with more cash won't come along and/or investors won't come knocking for their now-ashen cash back.
- Fricken 10y ago
  They've been spending like mad on growth, but underneath that is a real company. Uber is on track to draw 4 billion in revenue in 2016, more than double 2015. Uber is the next big tech giant, they've still got plenty room left to scale.
  - ethanbond 10y ago
    A real company how? They don't own anything. Everyone I know in NYC has between 2-4 ridesharing apps installed and they choose whichever one is fastest/cheapest. For a while that was Uber, but as they run out of money and have to start turning a profit, you can guarantee that won't last long. And by "that won't last long," I mean that era has seemingly already passed. The quality degradations in the past few months alone in NYC have been serious enough for me to default to Juno whenever possible. I'm not saying Juno is sustainable either (I don't know), but so long as any ridesharing app is willing to burn investor capital at a loss, I'm willing to benefit from said loss. I have no allegiance to Uber and I doubt anyone else does either.
jacques_chester 10y ago
I continue to take the view that the introduction of self-driving cars will lead to Uber being brutally cut down by disintermediation. An AirBNB for self-driving cars will be as cheap or cheaper to operate: no overhead for managing or paying drivers, no need to invest your own capital upfront to buy cars or loan money for cars. You just connect car owners to people who want to rent their car for 30 minutes. Even better: No need to subsidise fares to undercut competitors, just let your owners pick whatever price they like. Most of them will underprice for wear and tear, just as they already do, at no cost to the company making the connections between owners and riders. Meanwhile, Uber can't really ignore depreciation or wear and tear, even though it tries to place them at arm's length through loans to drivers. The economies of scale in such a market are weakened. Sure, you can buy a giant fleet of vehicles at a discount. But your competitors don't need to and will never need to. And if your competitors have massive piles of their own cash, which they don't need hype to acquire, you're looking at a fairly brutal car-wreck. Lyft won't kill Uber. Google Lifts will.

by imron 10y ago

ethanbond 10y ago

Well no because Uber is still bleeding cash pretty much everywhere and this relies on the assumption someone with more cash won't come along and/or investors won't come knocking for their now-ashen cash back.

Fricken 10y ago
They've been spending like mad on growth, but underneath that is a real company. Uber is on track to draw 4 billion in revenue in 2016, more than double 2015. Uber is the next big tech giant, they've still got plenty room left to scale.
- ethanbond 10y ago
  A real company how? They don't own anything. Everyone I know in NYC has between 2-4 ridesharing apps installed and they choose whichever one is fastest/cheapest. For a while that was Uber, but as they run out of money and have to start turning a profit, you can guarantee that won't last long. And by "that won't last long," I mean that era has seemingly already passed. The quality degradations in the past few months alone in NYC have been serious enough for me to default to Juno whenever possible. I'm not saying Juno is sustainable either (I don't know), but so long as any ridesharing app is willing to burn investor capital at a loss, I'm willing to benefit from said loss. I have no allegiance to Uber and I doubt anyone else does either.

jacques_chester 10y ago

I continue to take the view that the introduction of self-driving cars will lead to Uber being brutally cut down by disintermediation. An AirBNB for self-driving cars will be as cheap or cheaper to operate: no overhead for managing or paying drivers, no need to invest your own capital upfront to buy cars or loan money for cars. You just connect car owners to people who want to rent their car for 30 minutes. Even better: No need to subsidise fares to undercut competitors, just let your owners pick whatever price they like. Most of them will underprice for wear and tear, just as they already do, at no cost to the company making the connections between owners and riders. Meanwhile, Uber can't really ignore depreciation or wear and tear, even though it tries to place them at arm's length through loans to drivers. The economies of scale in such a market are weakened. Sure, you can buy a giant fleet of vehicles at a discount. But your competitors don't need to and will never need to. And if your competitors have massive piles of their own cash, which they don't need hype to acquire, you're looking at a fairly brutal car-wreck. Lyft won't kill Uber. Google Lifts will.