4 ms·

Is this just a response to UberPool? Or vice-versa? It just seems curious to me that within 48 hours the two biggest car-sharing providers launch the same fea

Is this just a response to UberPool? Or vice-versa? It just seems curious to me that within 48 hours the two biggest car-sharing providers launch the same feature. Or did they hear the other was working on it and rushed it out the door?

joshdance 12y ago
I was thinking the exact same thing.
kevinschumacher 12y ago
As ladon86 mentioned, it looks like Lyft already had it ready to go. I'd bet Uber heard and pushed the blog post. I'm sure both were already working on it, but the Uberpool announcement is just an announcement. Lyft actually has it today in SF.
minimaxir 12y ago
This isn't something you can "rush out the door." The logistics and QA necessary for such a product take months at minimum. Uber and Lyft most likely saw the exact same market opportunity at similar times.
- mattzito 12y ago
  Well, the cynic in me says that when something is in closed beta to a nonspecific limited pool of individuals, it might not be as fully baked as a blog post might suggest. I'm not suggesting malice, of course, but perhaps Uber heard that Lyft was planning to announce this, and rushed their own announcement ahead of time, then delay the actual implementation until they're ready.
  - alasdair_ 12y ago
    Completely agree. Microsoft used to do this thing all the time - it would hear about a competitor offering a new feature then announce it was going to be shipped as part of the next version of Windows, killing any interest in the competitor. Then (inevitably) there were months/years of delays while they actually built the thing. The worst example was when OS/2 looked likely to gain a foothold in the PC market and Microsoft claimed that the next windows would have essentially all the OS/2 features (then delayed the next release for an eternity and shipped without many of the core features). The goal was just to shut down a competitor, not to actually announce a new feature.
    - mattzito 12y ago
      Oh, hey, listen, I'm not throwing stones. I've done similar things myself when I had a press release opportunity timed with a trade show or a feature piece or something - but the product wasn't yet ready to ship. So you announce, say it's in early beta, or early access, or in "sneak preview" mode and go from there.
free2rhyme214 12y ago
Uber caught wind of Lyft's announcement and stole their thunder. It wouldn't surprise me if Uber employees read Hacker news too.

joshdance 12y ago

I was thinking the exact same thing.

kevinschumacher 12y ago

As ladon86 mentioned, it looks like Lyft already had it ready to go. I'd bet Uber heard and pushed the blog post. I'm sure both were already working on it, but the Uberpool announcement is just an announcement. Lyft actually has it today in SF.

minimaxir 12y ago

This isn't something you can "rush out the door." The logistics and QA necessary for such a product take months at minimum. Uber and Lyft most likely saw the exact same market opportunity at similar times.

mattzito 12y ago
Well, the cynic in me says that when something is in closed beta to a nonspecific limited pool of individuals, it might not be as fully baked as a blog post might suggest. I'm not suggesting malice, of course, but perhaps Uber heard that Lyft was planning to announce this, and rushed their own announcement ahead of time, then delay the actual implementation until they're ready.
- alasdair_ 12y ago
  Completely agree. Microsoft used to do this thing all the time - it would hear about a competitor offering a new feature then announce it was going to be shipped as part of the next version of Windows, killing any interest in the competitor. Then (inevitably) there were months/years of delays while they actually built the thing. The worst example was when OS/2 looked likely to gain a foothold in the PC market and Microsoft claimed that the next windows would have essentially all the OS/2 features (then delayed the next release for an eternity and shipped without many of the core features). The goal was just to shut down a competitor, not to actually announce a new feature.
  - mattzito 12y ago
    Oh, hey, listen, I'm not throwing stones. I've done similar things myself when I had a press release opportunity timed with a trade show or a feature piece or something - but the product wasn't yet ready to ship. So you announce, say it's in early beta, or early access, or in "sneak preview" mode and go from there.

free2rhyme214 12y ago

Uber caught wind of Lyft's announcement and stole their thunder. It wouldn't surprise me if Uber employees read Hacker news too.