Look at the example of Taxi apps. There are many in the European market, Germany alone has half a dozen local to the country.
Yet, while uber operated in Germany, they could get basically 100% of the customers – simply by throwing billions of VC money at the task to subsidize rides.
If competitors use such methods, there’s little you, as smaller company, can do.
While Uber operated in Germany... shall we recount the reasons why they do not do so any more?
There are two sides to a coin: while Uber has world-dominating ambition, that also means they aren't anywhere near as flexible to local market conditions as a local startup is. And I wouldn't consider Uber an unmitigated success yet - they still depend on VC cash to keep going, we'll see what happens when it runs out.
> While Uber operated in Germany... shall we recount the reasons why they do not do so any more?
They refused to pay insurance for their drivers? That's the reason why Uber stopped. Because they didn't want to pay for the time between the driver leaving their home and entering the car, and the time that the driver picked up the first customer.
Which meant that during this time the driver was entirely uninsured, which in turn is illegal.
Not just that. This happened when a Uber like model doesn't have any inherent global market place advantages. Most users in a city take a cab in their own city most of the time.
If even having this in their favor, small players are finding it difficult to survive - imagine if a bigger player comes in a space where there is a play for global level market place.
where there is a play for global level marketplace you will see real competition (smart phones seem to be a good example here) ... Uber is basically alone at the global level because of the local advantage as suggested and also the unwillingness of other big players to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year or ignore local laws.
they could get basically 100% of the customers – simply by throwing billions of VC money at the task to subsidize rides.
They could get a large market share, while they're heavily subsidizing their rides. The tricky part is keeping hold of the customers. Certainly where I live Uber made a pretty big push a couple of years ago, offering ridiculously cheap rides. During that period lots of people I know used Uber a lot. Once they stopped offering the subsidies and the prices rose back to 'normal' levels everybody went back to using taxis and public transport.
Yet, while uber operated in Germany, they could get basically 100% of the customers – simply by throwing billions of VC money at the task to subsidize rides.
If competitors use such methods, there’s little you, as smaller company, can do.