4 ms·
> I am pretty confident google could spin up an org to replicate the uber app in a few months/maybe a year. Like how they can "just spin up" a messaging app?
by 015a 3y ago
> I am pretty confident google could spin up an org to replicate the uber app in a few months/maybe a year.
Like how they can "just spin up" a messaging app?
Building companies and customer bases is really, really hard. Microsoft tried like three times to build a Github competitor. They still have at least one of those attempts (Azure DevOps). They still bought Github. An interesting product technically, sure, but: its where the people are at. It was worth it.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoSpinning up a messaging app without a compelling differentiation is hard. It's much easier with a compelling differentiation. Waymo could just set prices at half of Uber and boom instant market share.
- paulcole 3y agoInstant market share if they're willing to lose 2x the money that Uber is losing. It's not like drivers are going to be falling over themselves to sign up if it's a 50% paycut.
- darkwater 3y agoWaymo is about driverless cars aka robotaxis
- shagie 3y agoUsing Google's dominance to expand into other sectors (at a loss) is a perfect example of anticompetitive practices that regulators would likely take a keen interest in investigating.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoUsing robots to cut costs and thus prices is not anticompetitive.
- shagie 3y agoUsing Android's market share to push or encourage the use of a Waymo robot taxi booking application that is in competition with Uber and Lyft might be seen as anticompetitive. Other comments elsewhere are "No but if you're Google you can put it on literally every android phone quite quickly." and "All Google would need to do is push a notification to every Android phone that has Google Maps (so, all of them) that says "book your next trip through Google maps and the first ten rides are free!" and they're in business." That sort of approach would very likely be examined by regulators.
- zamnos 3y agoFollowed by a slap on the wrist of a fine? How many tens of millions of dollars do you think the TAM of NYC taxi service is, vs a single digit million dollar fine from regulators? Most days, fines are just the cost of doing business. They cut into your profits, sure, but as long as profits >> fine, just pay the fine and keep doing it.