[hiq]

You're not on Uber because of all the other users. Heck, you're not really there because of most the drivers, you're only there because there are enough drivers such that requesting a ride won't be a hassle. It's quite different from Facebook (I think WhatsApp in Europe is a better example these days) where you just expect everyone, including somebody you just met, to be.

> And the drivers use Uber because it has the riders.

You make it sound exclusive, but I've seen many drivers use a few different apps at the same time, often with different phones. You just need some temporary incentives and you've bootstrapped your network, because as explained above, the problem is only the initial bootstrapping.

Concrete example: two months ago I hadn't heard of "Free Now". I've now used it twice in two different European countries, last time because Uber was exactly four times as expensive (maybe that explains their new profits? They just raised their prices, hoping users won't notice?). I'm not often in a taxi so this is just anecdotal, but there's very little friction when switching to another service.