[deogeo]

It's interesting how little of this strategy involves providing a better service. But I don't think they're alone or even special from this perspective (e.g. similar to the rise of Microsoft).

I think the prevalence of "business strategy", as opposed to product/service improvement, in the growth of corporations, warrants much more scrutiny than it gets. After all, corporations should serve society - how do strategic mergers, acquisitions, lobbying, PR do that?

[TuringNYC]

Good for Uber, but I'm disappointed as a customer. I did extensive travel overseas in Qatar and the Careem app was excellent. They had a clear local strategy with local customization to capture users. For example

- [Local flavor] Using a button called "Yallah" instead of "Go"

- [Local Knowledge] Pre-coding airport pickup locations (unlike Uber which had you try and figure it out directly with drivers, who often did not speak English.)

- [Local Knowledge] Understanding that many parts of the world do not have street addresses!

[plumeria]

It would be great if Uber accepted plus codes (https://plus.codes/) when setting a destination.

[aorth]

In Jordan the Uber cars I've used are always cleaner than Careems. The Careem app also used to send me annoying notifications about deals.

[kinkrtyavimoodh]

> Pre-coding airport pickup locations.

Uber does this in many countries. Perhaps not yet in Qatar.

[fazilakhtar]

Uber has pre-coded locations for HIA now.