Highly recommend checking out the podcast Exponent and the blog Stratechery, both by Ben Thompson. He is a great analyst and both Exponent and Stratechery focus on the intersection of tech and business strategy.
I listened for a couple episodes, but when they started talking about machine learning it became obvious how little they understood it. With how willing they were to confidently opine on how it would change industries based on an incorrect understanding, I lost confidence in the other things they talked about.
True. They did the same in other technical subjects(UberPool and travelling salesman), so this is probably a repeating theme for them. And in the same episode, they didn't even do a survey of similar startups solving the same problem(which carries big implications on market structure), so it's not just a matter of technical subjects.
via((@ridewithvia) manage to do true ride sharing very well. they fill 8 seater vans. they don't use freelancers, but employees, and they license their software(and practically their model) to cities and other organizations.
Market structure: i can see workplaces(or maybe big events) licensing via, keeping control of the user, and offering free ride services from home/work to the cheapest transportation bidder, for example. Thus workplaces will keep all the "network effect" and market power.