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I would hope that uber has bigger fish to fry by subverting the taxi industry, but strategically I can see why they are as scared of Lyft as they seem to be. St
by brianbreslin 12y ago
I would hope that uber has bigger fish to fry by subverting the taxi industry, but strategically I can see why they are as scared of Lyft as they seem to be. Still seems distasteful to sabotage a fellow startup.
- minimaxir 12y ago> Still seems distasteful to sabotage a fellow startup. I don't see why Lyft being "a fellow startup" should affect any of Uber's business tactics. Startups don't have any intrinsic motivation to play nice with each other.
- untog 12y agoI think it's just the idea of "punching up" vs. "punching down". When a scrappy startup takes on a larger competitor they need to pull out all the stops to combat the advantages of their competitor being an established company. At this point Uber essentially is the #1 established company of car services, so them resorting to dirty tactics to fight Lyft leaves a very sour taste in the mouth.
- maxbrown 12y agoAny established player that doesn't defend its position will be quickly unseated. I'm not saying this is an appropriate way to defend itself, but it's certainly one way.
- untog 12y agoSure. But left unchecked it results in Microsoft's "extend, embrace, extinguish" 1990s.
- chc 12y agoMaybe, but I kind of feel like the difference between making your competitor's employees a better offer and deliberately exploiting a monopoly to destroy any technology you don't control is more than just a matter of scale.
- philwelch 12y agoPlaying nice with other companies by agreeing not to poach each other's employees? Where have I heard that one before?
- untog 12y agoDon't tell Uber you're calling them employees, they don't like that.