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> ‘Schedule UberX for today at 3 pm, pickup at my place, drop off at the airport' I guess one reason is that you can literally do this yourself within the Uber

> ‘Schedule UberX for today at 3 pm, pickup at my place, drop off at the airport' I guess one reason is that you can literally do this yourself within the Uber app in 30 seconds without the need for an intermediary.

nerbert 3y ago
You’d be amazed by the number of things people could do themselves but need an app for.
- Terretta 3y ago
  That's sort of the point, Uber is an app and they have the app for that. And their phone OS is an app containing apps-for-that. Arguably Android or iOS is already an app with buttons for tasks, and you press the button of the task you want like "get a car" or "bring me food" and it happens. The cool part is each button can bring up a UI designed to work best for that particular task. This is why "everything apps" might not be the next big thing -- they're already here. An everything app is just centralizing and bottlenecking what already exists: Android or iOS as the everything app with buttons for tasks.
agilob 3y ago
>Book me a tennis court at @club today at 6 pm for 1 hour' Ok, but can I use my phone to message my tennis court reception to book a session?
- smallerfish 3y ago
  In certain countries, yeah. Everything is done over whatsapp where I live in latin america. Book a doctor, ask your electrician if he can find a part, schedule a session with the lawyer, ask the pharmacy if they have something in stock, reserve a restaurant, order a meal... As much as I hate Meta there's a ton of value in a universal messaging app. Seems like WeChat is one step further. There's a reason why Musk is attempting to take X in that direction.
- rco8786 3y ago
  A lot of courts in my area have online bookings
alexwebb2 3y ago
Only in larger markets; many smaller ones don't allow scheduling in advance at all. So this would actually solve a problem for me.
- vineyardmike 3y ago
  In large markets, the ordering in advance is because there’s enough drivers to guarantee availability. If you just automate the API call, you might discover that no one answers fast enough and you end up late anyways.

nerbert 3y ago

You’d be amazed by the number of things people could do themselves but need an app for.

Terretta 3y ago
That's sort of the point, Uber is an app and they have the app for that. And their phone OS is an app containing apps-for-that. Arguably Android or iOS is already an app with buttons for tasks, and you press the button of the task you want like "get a car" or "bring me food" and it happens. The cool part is each button can bring up a UI designed to work best for that particular task. This is why "everything apps" might not be the next big thing -- they're already here. An everything app is just centralizing and bottlenecking what already exists: Android or iOS as the everything app with buttons for tasks.

agilob 3y ago

>Book me a tennis court at @club today at 6 pm for 1 hour' Ok, but can I use my phone to message my tennis court reception to book a session?

smallerfish 3y ago
In certain countries, yeah. Everything is done over whatsapp where I live in latin america. Book a doctor, ask your electrician if he can find a part, schedule a session with the lawyer, ask the pharmacy if they have something in stock, reserve a restaurant, order a meal... As much as I hate Meta there's a ton of value in a universal messaging app. Seems like WeChat is one step further. There's a reason why Musk is attempting to take X in that direction.
rco8786 3y ago
A lot of courts in my area have online bookings

alexwebb2 3y ago

Only in larger markets; many smaller ones don't allow scheduling in advance at all. So this would actually solve a problem for me.

vineyardmike 3y ago
In large markets, the ordering in advance is because there’s enough drivers to guarantee availability. If you just automate the API call, you might discover that no one answers fast enough and you end up late anyways.