3 ms·
That’s an oversimplification. Uber’s primary innovations were social. They convinced riders that it was safe to jump into a stranger’s car, and drivers that it
by wilde 7y ago
That’s an oversimplification. Uber’s primary innovations were social. They convinced riders that it was safe to jump into a stranger’s car, and drivers that it was safe to run an illegal taxi business. They managed to do both of these things effectively in large enough volumes to change how people think about taxis. Both of these things seem boring and normal now, but they were radical a decade ago.
- Barrin92 7y agothat's not an innovation that captures any unique value for Uber and more of a positive externality if anything, because strangers still want to be paid and if anything customers aren't willing to pay them more than a regular taxi company. On an economic level, if anything Uber suffers from inefficiencies because every driver being their own insurer, repairman and so on is a disdavantage compared to employment by a traditional taxi business. Which is of course why taxi drivers organise in firms to begin with. In a way, the entire sharing business model is a sort of weird backwards move that wilfully ignores the division of labour.
- wilde 7y agoThat’s the billion dollar question. Uber chose to commoditize their drivers from a very early stage. This made sense when most of the drivers were actual ride shares and amateurs. As the driver population professionalized, I do wonder if Uber missed a bet to move from being an aggregator to being a platform. In the Azores, taxi drivers will hand you their card and build a relationship with you. Is there room in US cities for more specialization than UberX vs Uber Black? I don’t know, but I think it might have accrued more durable value to the Uber ecosystem if they had let the drivers build differentiated personal brands.