A lot of devs I know seem to think that Uber's big win was having an app. I think that's why I hear things like Tinder being labeled as "Uber for dating". I've seen a few devs that think you can just create an app that's really just a front-end to their product's webpage.
The app was helpful for Uber, definitely. But moreso, was the change in the way they handled service: ratings, payment, hailing, etc. The app just facilitated those changes.
Yeah, but you couldn't have done any of that without the app. At best, you could have done it all on a web page accessible by a regular PC, but that wouldn't have gotten anywhere because who's using a desktop/laptop PC while they're standing on the street looking for a ride? Having an app that runs on a portable communications device in your pocket made all those things (hailing, payment, ratings, etc.) possible to do. Really, Uber is just a naturally emergent business enabled by smartphones and the internet; the only thing holding it back was the taxi cartels and their laziness and also obsolete regulations.
This is a good point, but in my mind all of these changes come about because of the app. Suddenly you have a medium that allows you to do these things you couldn't before.
That's what I mean by facilitated. It wasn't having an app that made Uber successful, it was doing things that cabs couldn't. The app was just the means to the end.
I think there's a lot of "we need an app" thinking in the industry, but no thought as to what that app will do.
The app was helpful for Uber, definitely. But moreso, was the change in the way they handled service: ratings, payment, hailing, etc. The app just facilitated those changes.