I don't know that Google has a disadvantage to Uber on data: they likely already have your credit card number (Google Play or Google Checkout) and they also lik

I don't know that Google has a disadvantage to Uber on data: they likely already have your credit card number (Google Play or Google Checkout) and they also likely have your location history. Car service apps like Uber are headed towards commoditization. My local taxi company has one; it works almost as well as Uber but at half the price. Throw in self-driving cars (where Google has a technological advantage over Uber) and brand value becomes really important. The market will be completely commoditized if anyone with money can go buy a fleet of cars and build an app for $100k (replicating Uber would not be complicated). Branding is the biggest differentiator in commoditized markets. CPG companies are the masters of this: Tide doesn't actually get your clothes any cleaner than the store brand, but you pay for it anyway. They may adjust the packaging too (pods versus powder versus liquid) but fundamentally, it's the same product. I would expect similar segmentation to happen in the car-on-demand market: one company will specialize in cargo, another in short-distance trips, another in trips to the airport, etc. There will likely be very little difference between these services other than branding/positioning.