Re:Uber’s Losses Widen as SoftBank Launches Bid to Buy Shares
by gaius on Thursday November 30, 2017 @01:46PM
(#15818335)
You need good engineers that build products that are reliable and well tested, to work 24/7
So did newspapers - the very definition of mission-critical computing is the the paper HAS to hit the stands the next morning. Didn't save them from half-arsed competitors running glorified blogs...
Re:Uber’s Losses Widen as SoftBank Launches Bid to Buy Shares
by ams6110 on Thursday November 30, 2017 @01:49PM
(#15818362)
The backend systems can be SaaS. Amazon could do it. Anyone can then buy a local franchise for that backend service in their area. Or it could be offered whitelabel.
Re:Uber’s Losses Widen as SoftBank Launches Bid to Buy Shares
by wpietri on Thursday November 30, 2017 @01:57PM
(#15818435)
Sure. But compare with Flywheel, which has less than 50 employees and produces a perfectly adequate app. Infrastructure is also much easier at small scales. And as you point out, this is pretty easy to outsource. That means that that Uber's engineers are not making much of a mote.
There is a lot of work that goes into the infrastructure behind companies like Uber and Lyft. You need good engineers that build products that are reliable and well tested, to work 24/7.
It is a hard problem. A lot of the smaller city taxi companies that have apps contract to larger vendors as well.