That is a great explanation. It’s to Uber’s credit that their app seems so deceptively simple. That said all those special cases make me even more skeptical about them getting on the right side of profitability.

Every one of those localized special cases that Uber puts a team on is them defending a moat against localized competitors. For the upstart localized app, that country’s payment system, driver laws, airport rules etc more similar to the basic 5 screen app Uber seems to be.

Anytime Uber let’s it’s foot off the gas in a particular place one of those will show up, offer drivers a slightly better deal, and Uber will have to match - killing any margin.