Re:Scale Ruins Everything
by tomjakubowski on Tuesday October 15, 2024 @02:07PM
(#41851296)
Before Uber was available in Orange County, circa 2010-2011, I used an iPhone app to call a yellow cab to pick me up without having speaking to a dispatcher. I was able to give feedback about the driver too. Uber-style apps to hail cabs did exist, maybe they just weren't rolled out to all markets.
Before the launch of UberX, the Uber app positioned itself as a convenient way to call a black car/limo and, for drivers, to get some extra business between their "regular" calls. It was a semi-luxury though it only cost a bit more than a yellow cab (I only ever used Uber pre-UberX to get to/from the airport).
Really, other than surge pricing, I don't think Uber innovated very much on the tech side. Their success in disrupting cabs was rather down to flooding the market with supply, oftentimes in ways that flouted the law.
Before the launch of UberX, the Uber app positioned itself as a convenient way to call a black car/limo and, for drivers, to get some extra business between their "regular" calls. It was a semi-luxury though it only cost a bit more than a yellow cab (I only ever used Uber pre-UberX to get to/from the airport).
Really, other than surge pricing, I don't think Uber innovated very much on the tech side. Their success in disrupting cabs was rather down to flooding the market with supply, oftentimes in ways that flouted the law.