Uber Technologies Inc.

[CityFarmer]

South Korea is also in the list of "trouble"...

South Korea indicts Uber CEO, local unit for transport law breach

SEOUL - South Korea has indicted the chief executive officer and local subsidiary of Uber Technologies Inc for violating a law governing public transport, becoming the latest jurisdiction to challenge the U.S. taxi service provider.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office issued the indictment against CEO Travis Kalanick and the firm's Korean unit for violating a law prohibiting individuals or firms without appropriate licenses from providing or facilitating transportation services, an Uber spokeswoman said.

The prosecutors' office declined to comment.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/sout...ary-yonhap

[CityFarmer]

China joins the rest...

China bans private cars on ride-hailing apps such as Uber

BEIJING — China has banned drivers of private cars from offering services through ride-hailing apps, throwing up a new hurdle to Uber Technologies Ltd.’s global expansion.

Only licensed taxis may use ride-hailing apps, the Ministry of Transport announced today (Jan 9). Such apps are hugely popular in China, and the ministry said it needed to protect users.

The ruling could be a setback for Uber, which faces legal challenges in South Korea, India, Europe, California and other markets for using drivers who lack taxi licenses.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/ch...-such-uber

[Luca_Brasi]

China MIIT Minister Wan Gang and government officials have recently endorsed car-share program run by Kandi-Geely JV (9 cities so far), so it was expected Uber wouldn't last long.

[weijian]

Simplistically speaking, most of the various gov authorities (esp the asian ones) are really trying to protect their own rent seeking cronies i suppose?

[Luca_Brasi]

Simplistically speaking, most of the various gov authorities (esp the asian ones) are really trying to protect their own rent seeking cronies i suppose?

That's very true, specially when you see China trying to shift to a consumer-based economy and at the same time trying to solve their huge pollution and traffic congestion issues.

There's no reason why they should open the gate to foreign companies while they have local ones able to meet the objectives with innovative solutions like Kandi.

[CityFarmer]

Simplistically speaking, most of the various gov authorities (esp the asian ones) are really trying to protect their own rent seeking cronies i suppose?

That's very true, specially when you see China trying to shift to a consumer-based economy and at the same time trying to solve their huge pollution and traffic congestion issues.

There's no reason why they should open the gate to foreign companies while they have local ones able to meet the objectives with innovative solutions like Kandi.

IMO, it is just a simple case of regulation. If taxi need license to operate, there is no good reason to relax the regulation for private car owners. It is still no good reason under the name of "innovation".

[greengiraffe]

The $US50 billion question: can Uber deliver?
DOUGLAS MACMILLAN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL JUNE 16, 2015 3:01PM

The UberEats food-delivery service is offered to Uber users in parts of New York and Chicago. Source: Supplied

Uber Technologies became one of the world’s most valuable start-ups by creating a new way to transport millions of people in more than 300 cities.

But using the same formula to up-end the delivery business has turned into a slog.

For more than a year, the San Francisco company has been trying to build what its chief executive once called “an urban logistics fabric” that enables drivers who shuttle passengers with the tap of a smartphone to pick up food, grocery items and packages along the way. In a sign of Uber’s potential, it has more than 200,000 active drivers, roughly double the size of the delivery workforce at United Parcel Service.

So far, though, an Uber same-day delivery program launched a year ago with plans to sign up dozens of retailers has announced partnerships with just six. And one of those, e-commerce company Gilt Groupe, says its arrangement fell short of expectations, partly because Uber was unable to insure high-priced items sold through Gilt’s online store, according to a Gilt spokeswoman.

In recent months, Uber lost out on the opportunity to make deliveries in some cities for Apple and Starbucks, which discussed tie-ups with Uber but then made deals with start-up courier servicePostmates, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Popular food-ordering apps Eat24, owned by Yelp Inc, and GrubHub also held talks with Uber but haven’t reached any agreements.

A food-delivery service called UberEats, launched last fall to speed lunch and dinner items from popular restaurants to Uber users in parts of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto and Barcelona, sometimes has so few customers that drivers have to throw away food at day’s end.

Uber says it remains committed to making deliveries and still is in an early phase of testing new approaches to the business.

“We will continue to experiment and test new products that benefit both customers and the cities in which we operate,” Jason Droege, who runs the delivery project, known internally as UberEverything, said.

A spokeswoman adds that response to UberEats “has been overwhelmingly positive.” The service could expand to as many as 15 cities in coming months.

Rivals of Uber in the nascent world of on-demand delivery also are betting that the smartphone era is breeding a new kind of shopper who will want many kinds of products delivered as quickly as the hailing of a car.

Investors in Uber are enthusiastic about the potential, valuing the privately held company at $US41 billion in its last funding round. Uber is in talks to raise a new funding round at a valuation of $US50 billion or more, people familiar with the matter have said, roughly equal to FedEx Corp’s stockmarket value.

“There’s nobody who has as big of a real-time logistics network than Uber,” says Jason Calacanis, a serial entrepreneur who was one of Uber’s first investors. “If they can make another business line work with this infrastructure, that could transform the business.”

Uber, which had revenue last year of roughly $US400 million and is planning to invest more than $US1 billion in China this year, hasn’t said publicly how big it hopes to become in the delivery business.

Bill Gurley, a partner at venture-capital firm Benchmark in San Francisco and director at Uber, says he has never seen a financial projection for Uber which includes revenue from deliveries. “This company is growing faster than any company I think there’s ever been in Silicon Valley, and that’s on the core product offering,” Mr Gurley says.

Same-day delivery has become fiercely competitive, ranging from upstarts such as Instacart and Deliv Inc, which carry shipments from grocers and shopping-mall retailers, to technology giants Amazon.com, eBay and Google. Even Lyft, Uber’s largest US rival in ride-sharing, is exploring its own fast-delivery service, says a person familiar with the matter.

The business is a logistical quagmire. One recent evening, Jim Pekarek had 30 minutes to pick up a $US7 burrito in San Francisco’s Mission District and deliver it to a customer seven kilometres away.

Driving for ride-hailing service Sidecar Technologies, Mr Pekarek fetched the burrito from Taqueria Pancho Villa, hurried back to his car, parked halfway on a kerb, and sped off. But his recipient was nowhere in sight and didn’t answer the phone.

After consulting a map, circling the block and talking to two customer-service representatives, Mr Pekarek discovered there was a mix-up between 29th Street and 29th Avenue. He delivered the lukewarm burrito 30 minutes late to the customer, who had sent increasingly impatient text messages that included: “Forget it.”

“I’m wondering how this makes financial sense,” says Mr Pekarek, 33 years old, a video game developer who picks up passengers and packages for Sidecar, based in San Francisco. Sidecar wouldn’t comment on its financial results.

FedEx offers same-day delivery in more than 20 markets, but such shipments are just a sliver of its overall business. Most customers are happy to wait a day or more for e-commerce shipments, according to Frederick W. Smith, FedEx’s chairman, president and chief executive.

“I think there’s just an urban mythology out there that the app somehow changes the basic cost input of the logistics business,” Mr Smith told analysts about Uber. “That’s just incorrect.” Uber declined to comment.

Uber has tested deliveries of sushi in Barcelona, designer suits in Manhattan and condoms in Washington, DC. Mr Droege’s team now appears to be focusing on UberEats.

He joined the company last year from electrical stun-gun maker Taser International and was Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s classmate at the University of California, Los Angeles. The two men joined forces on their first start-up, a file-sharing service called Scour.

[vesfreq]

This is the puzzling thing. No real reason to block uber taxis. It represents a real solution to all the phantom taxis which cant be found during peak hours. And less congestion. No worry of cabs not having enough customers during off peak hours. It sounds like much more efficient demand and supply matching mechanism than the current taxi systems.

[opmi]

I like UberX. It is like having a private chauffeur on demand. I dont mind pay a bit for doorstep to doorstep. Esp out with kids.
Been talking to UberX drivers during the trips. Their income been going down ever since Uber gives less and less incentives.

Have you guys tried UberX before? Tempted to post referral code here...hahaha

[Ben]

I like UberX. It is like having a private chauffeur on demand. I dont mind pay a bit for doorstep to doorstep. Esp out with kids.
Been talking to UberX drivers during the trips. Their income been going down ever since Uber gives less and less incentives.

Have you guys tried UberX before? Tempted to post referral code here...hahaha

Well actually comparing distance to distance, UberX is cheaper than normal taxi. There is no booking fees for UberX n you don't have to talk to a machine when booking a car. But of course if there is a price surge than the fares will be higher depending on the surge. Anyone who wants to try I can give you a promotion code. You get $20 free ride n I get $5 incentives as a driver. Sorry not trying to sell but just giving you an option. Btw, they just introduce UberXL, a 7 seater MPV that can take 6 passengers at slightly higher price.