Main competitor here is traditional taxi (can be hailed, paid and tracked through app, has dozens of competing operators, has nice cars). If Uber would raise prices their only appeal would vanish.

If I take an Uber instead of a taxi it’s solely because Uber investors sponsor my ride. The taxi experience is 100% the same thing. I don’t think this is a great business model.

And then new competitors will spring up who can undermine those prices. There is absolutely nothing unique about what Uber does to keep people as customers.

A dominant two-sided market has strong network effects, since new suppliers want to be where the buyers already are and vice versa.

If the drivers are contractors, then they can install both apps.

If they are employees, Uber is thoroughly fucked.

With that strategy, Uber might run out of cash before the competition is crushed.

They are way into debt financing and have a $25B bottom line, this is a "when you owe the bank a million dollars..." situation now, nobody involved is going to let it run out of money and throw the whole house of cards away.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like sunk cost fallacy.

I'm not surprised.

> Uber might run out of cash before the competition is crushed.

True, but time scales matter. Given their current position, it might take 20 years for that to happen. By then, who knows where they or the market will be.

Sure but there are quite significant competitors around. Lyft is a major one in the US. But countries like India and China, Uber can't even survive as the competition is beating them to it.