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Yes, they have a big user base but the biggest concern for me as an investor would be can they increase prices without losing users. I believe Uber customers ar
by justfor1comment 8y ago
Yes, they have a big user base but the biggest concern for me as an investor would be can they increase prices without losing users. I believe Uber customers are very price sensitive and on top of that the self driving division was shut down so their costs won't go lower any time soon. So how will this business generate billions of dollars in profit?
- sandworm101 8y ago>> So how will this business generate billions of dollars in profit? It doesn't. At least, not from people paying for rides. I suspect Uber will have to start leveraging their passengers. Either they are going to start hitting them with ads, as taxis have done for years, or become yet another source of consumer data. I imagine a possible nightmare scenario whereby Uber starts charging people other than passengers. Venues such as nightclubs could be asked to contribute else their customer base not get rides home.
- mikeyouse 8y agoI saw a troubling portrayal of Uber's value the other day that had very little to do with people paying for rides. The gist was, Uber has fine-level logistical detail on millions of business people including where they live, work, eat, drink, take meetings -- Often tied to corporate email addresses. So what's the value of knowing that some SVP at Google is taking several meetings at some company? Or which of Amazon's HQ2 team are traveling out of which airports to city halls across the country? I'm sure there's marketing value to knowing that a random 30-something likes to get burritos on the way home from the bar, but there's a ton of really valuable info buried in ride histories.
- calyth2018 8y agoThat could happen, but then I'd imagine they'd be sued out of existence.
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- throwaway080383 8y agoWord gets around. As soon as anyone catches wind of this, there will be headlines in every newspaper, and any company with something to hide will prevent employees from using it.
- Angostura 8y agoWouldn't fly in Europe, either.
- Axsuul 8y agoUber has not shut down their self-driving division[1] 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/technology/uber-self-driving-cars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/technology/uber-self-driv...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- misiti3780 8y agothey shut down the self driving trucks only correct?
- Axsuul 8y agoCorrect!
- hn_throwaway_99 8y agoEspecially now that you can open up Google Maps, get directions to a destination and then immediately get price estimates across Uber and Lyft and book a ride. Looks like a commodity, price-consciousness business very similar to the airlines.