
Tech's Fiercest Rivalry: Uber vs. Lyft - KarenS
http://online.wsj.com/articles/two-tech-upstarts-plot-each-others-demise-1407800744
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alialkhatib
(like caycep said,) from everything I've read, the venom spat back and forth
between Microsoft and Apple sounds a lot fiercer than this. This is probably
the fiercest rivalry in recent history, and I may be remembering history with
more exaggerated brushstrokes, but I don't think this is the fiercest.

I will grant that the "battle lines" seem to be drawn a lot less clearly now
than they were back then. Again, that might just be the effect of remembering
history after the "fog of war" has settled.

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cwyers
Microsoft and Apple have been in bed with each other WAY too many times to
qualify as the fiercest rivalry.

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differentView
Some of the worst fights are between those with closest ties. Civil wars,
sibling rivalries, divorces, etc...

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ForHackernews
I don't know if other people feel this way, but I feel like Lyft has created a
much more positive brand identity. Lyft seems fun and friendly, where Uber is
like a cold, ruthlessly Randian organization.

I've never taken a ride from either car service, but I'm rooting for Lyft.

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cylinder
Why would I want my ride in a car to be fun? Safety, cleanliness,
professionalism are all much higher concerns.

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ForHackernews
If you value those three things, probably better off going with a real,
licensed limo service than a fly-by-night app, anyway.

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cylinder
App has nothing to do with it. The licensing of the drivers is the same. The
difference is the Medallion system vs. Uber putting as many drivers on the
road as they want.

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johnvschmitt
Too many times, I've seen people call ugly, immoral tactics like this as
"growth hacking", which is polluting an otherwise positive culture.

Yes, it may be legal. Yes, it may grow your company. Yes, you may not have to
pay any consequences until you're big enough to pay it off as a "tax".

But, no, it's not ethical, and yes, your investors will worry that you'll
shamelessly cheat them at the first opportunity.

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ameister14
Just because something directly harms the competition doesn't mean it's
unethical or immoral. If it doesn't harm the stakeholders, it's fine with me.
This isn't pouring waste into a river. This is going in and poaching the
opponent's resources.

I also don't think it's inherently dishonest to do things like offer referral
bonuses for getting the competition's drivers to join your service.

Were I an investor, where would I get the impression that they would
shamelessly cheat me at the first opportunity? All they've done is improve the
likelihood that the business I have invested in wins out.

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johnvschmitt
Abusing the cancelation policy is the specific immoral act I'm calling out
here. Offering employment invitations is fine.

But, often a company has very forgiving cancelation policies to be customer-
friendly. By abusing those cancelation policies to do a DDOS-style attack is
going to lead to adverse impacts on the ecosystem (less forgiving cancelation
policies, drivers & riders wasting time chasing bogus reservations, etc)

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gohrt
This is not a tech rivarly at all. This is a car-service rivalry.

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elyrly
Exactly, The tech between Uber and Lyft comes down to crowd-sourcing
users/driver and payment system.

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ja27
I caught one Lyft last week where I said "wait, did I get you through Uber or
Lyft?" because the driver had an Uber sticker in the window. He kind of smiled
and was the quietest Lyft driver I've ever had.

So how many drivers are doing both? How could either service know? Maybe by
seeing a drive go unavailable for short periods and become available again
from a different location.

I had one driver that just drove in the mornings, between dropping the kids
off at school and when it was time to start work. That's an ideal time to have
a driver but if you hit him with higher commissions than a full-time driver,
he's not going to be happy.

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ghshephard
That's why there's a Pink Mustache on Lyft cars.

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waterfowl
I think it's now optional(given the regulatory heat ridesharing gets some
places, I don't blame the drivers)

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caycep
The Fiercest? Not Apple vs. IBM? Apple vs. Microsoft? Samsung vs. Apple?
Google vs. Oracle?

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rottencupcakes
It's the fiercest at the moment! Lyft and Uber are engaged in an epic price
war, where each of them is subsidizing the cost of rides while trying to
expand as quickly as possible to new cities to best the other.

In about a year, this competition has halved the cost of getting between any
two places in San Francisco. It's quite thrilling.

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viscanti
According to the infographic, it doesn't look like much of a rivalry. It's a
bit embarrassing for Lyft to not be anywhere internationally.

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OrwellianChild
_Being installed on someone 's iPhone on the home page is a pretty sticky
place to be._

This strikes me as pretty disingenuous, considering the fact that the entire
value of the Lyft/Uber systems is matchmaking. I can open both apps and check
availability/price in seconds. Why would this not continue to be a healthily
competitive space? (scummy, sabotage and price-war tactics aside)

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fred_durst
I think you are a bit naive to believe that both Uber and Lyft with survive
long term. In a network effect business its typically winner take all.

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aetherson
Which may become relevant if Uber pool or Lyft line work out and this actually
becomes a network effect business. But for the now, it is not.

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OrwellianChild
Ha! I didn't even realize they were already going this way (car-pool
coordination). Thanks for bringing them up!

UberPool and Lyft Line seem like exactly the sort of quick innovations on the
matchmaking side that can provide real value for customers, especially if they
act as escrow and clearing house to automatically split fares among
carpoolers. Looks like Lyft Line is trying to eat the upside by just providing
a slightly discounted fare. Can't tell how UberPool is handling it from my
quick scan.

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aetherson
They're both basically hoping to increase their margins while still providing
substantive savings to their passengers. So, for a $20 ride, they basically
want to charge each passenger about $12 (thus saving the passenger $8) and
thus increase their net take from $20 to $24.

The complicating factor is that they're also trying to provide passengers an
incentive to try out the service before it gets good, so they offer some
discounts even for rides that they think they will not actually be able to
find an additional passenger for.

It's a very cool innovation. I hope it works out. It remains to be seen if
passengers want to deal with sharing a car in enough quantity to make the
services work out. If it does work out, then rides-for-hire will, in this sub-
space at least, become a genuine network effect business, and there will be
one hell of a brawl.

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NickWarner775
Ive also had an experience where my lyft driver worked for Uber also. She said
the clientele is different for each company. Lyft is more hip and friendly
people. Uber seemed to be richer looking and less talkative.

Living in San Diego, Ubers $10 Tijuana trips will be a huge success.

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eridius
My brother once described the difference to me as "Use Lyft if you want to
talk to the driver, Uber if you don't". It's not just the clientele that are
different, but the drivers act differently too. In my experience, Lyft drivers
are more prone to trying to strike up a conversation, whereas Uber drivers
rarely try and initiate.

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joelrunyon
> According to an email Uber sent to drivers in May that was reviewed by The
> Wall Street Journal, the company offers $250 for referring a new driver to
> its service; $500 for referring a Lyft driver; and $1,000 for signing up a
> Lyft "mentor," an experienced Lyft contractor who helps train new drivers.

This sounds scarily like MLM to me. Anyone else?

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smeyer
Not really. It just sounds like a referral bonus. They're shipping a real
service and offering bonuses to get other employees. The main way to make
money as an uber driver seems to still be driving, not referring other
drivers. I'm a software engineer and I got well over $1,000 for referring a
friend to my company, but I don't think that makes us an MLM scheme.

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pmalynin
Why not merge into UberLyft and provide better service?

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dmethvin
At the moment, both riders and drivers benefit from Uber and Lyft beating each
other's brains out with bags of money. It can't last forever but while it does
we can benefit. At some point the party will be over and we'll need to pay
more.

