I don't understand why they cut prices. I've never used Uber because it's cheaper, I use it because it's better. If the drivers are able to make decent money, I feel even better about using it.

Ideally, I wish the price was high enough that drivers didn't ask for tips. However, if tipping becomes the norm, Uber should remove the friction of tipping by adding it into the app.

Part of the reason it is better is that the rides are subsidized which pays drivers more than otherwise and attracts more drivers (availability) while making driving a newer car possible (quality). For it to remain "better" prices would have to rise significantly which wouldn't work outside of a niche market. Worse still - if Uber loses riders and starts serving a niche again, availability will get worse as there will not be enough demand to keep that many drivers on the road.

Take a look at airlines for what a race to the bottom in transportation looks like. People in aggregate are often unwilling to pay a premium for better service and will choose cheaper tickets over amenities like in-flight meals or "free" checked luggage.

I definitely wouldn't use it if it was more expensive. Heck, I'd probably become more motivated to save up and buy a car if Uber wasn't so affordable and accessible.

The cynic in me believes there will never be an IPO. They've started to hide their balance sheets, even from large investors. Their valuation is already sky-high, and it's basically impossible for them to realistically return 10x for new investors, but the risks are higher than they were two or three years ago.

They're a time bomb financially, a mine field politically, and a toxic swamp morally. The Uber->Under transition is just a matter of months.

Yup. I think he would have been smarter to do a Groupon-style IPO, where he wraps it in Christmas paper, gets everybody hyped up, and quickly sells off his personal shares before everybody that they've bought a box full of dog turds and the share price falls by 80-90%.

I'm of course happy he didn't, as he deserves to go down in flames. If we're especially lucky, he and Shkreli will end up sharing a cell. But we're probably not that lucky.

You think Travis Kalanick should go to jail? Really? For what?

You're not saying much. Half of running a company is PR.

Uber is not a taxi company. They do not compete with Taxis, but with car ownership.

EDIT: I knew if I won't make my point explicit it will be misread. I was referring to:

> Then, we'll see if they'll really survive as a taxi company.

They are building self-driving cars to create a logistic company. They have a limited interest in being a taxi company(in a classical sense), therefore they don't care much.

Yes they are. They're a company which provides a car and driver to get from point A to point B on demand. That's a taxi company.

If you want someone competing with car ownership look at companies like Zipcar.

By that token, taxi companies aren't taxi companies.

Uber is a taxi company. Actually it's a taxi middleman because it doesn't want to treat drivers as employees.

right, because nobody on here has read Zero To One, so nobody will recognize that "define yourself as a new category if your real category is highly regulated" game.

and because taxi companies don't already compete with car ownership.

sure.

Don't taxis as a business compete with car ownership?

No, they're too expensive. UberX is cheap enough to compete with car ownership.