Uber: Will It be a Disruptive Technology?

                Uber is a simple car service which is growing in popularity around the world especially in US as a new means of transportation. Convenience, cleanliness of the car, relatively low fair, and many other reasons make Uber an attraction amongst people in mass transportation hubs such as New York, San Francisco, and many others. Uber is a great example of a disruptive technology or at least it will be soon given the rate at which its expanding.

            Uber is growing in business because of its ingenious business model to drive the market. It hires regular people as part-time or full-time per needs of individuals. It pays them well, but requires that individuals use their own cars. The cars are covered through the individuals insurance, but if need be Uber also pitches in for certain parts of the coverage. The main attraction why regular people consider working for Uber is first a great pay for only few hours of work; second, if the individuals used to be cab drivers who lost their jobs because of so and so reason, they now have an opportunity to continue their work and make more money than at the Yellow Taxi service. The schedule flexibility and the area coverage is another plus why people consider working for Uber.

            What about the costumers? Why are they so attracted to this service? First, Uber provides a convenient service to people whereever they need the service from and to without any restriction on location. All they need to do is simply call the service via I-phone or Android app or phone-call and the dispatcher will send the nearest driver to the location as quickly as possible. This works well because there are so many of them working in many areas around the country. Second, all the money is paid upon reserving the service via credit cards meaning that it also reflects people’s standards while eliminating the bad area coverage since only certain people would be able to afford credit cards. Third, because of the condition of the cars, it might be looked at highly in reputation if people going to functions exit from Uber cars which sometimes are branded cars as opposed to Yellow Taxi, etc.  

          Why is Uber growing in popularity? Well, as mentioned above, it is spread out across the country, covering all the major transportation hubs. The service it’s providing has made everyone happy and due to that the word is spreading everywhere. Uber is publicized across all platforms for ads such as radio, TV, social media, and many more. That is how it’s able to reach too many people across the country. Well, this has been about the Uber and its usefulness. Now, lets’ talk a bit about controversy surrounding it.

            To begin, Uber is car service which is only legal in certain states in US and in others it is not such as Hoboken. Hoboken is one of the states which is trying to eliminate Uber in support of its licensed Yellow Taxi service. The authorities are trying all possible legal ways to stop Uber from running in Hoboken. However, even with no license to drive in Hoboken, Uber doesn’t seem to care. It’s fighting the system by encouraging drivers and providing all the support. If they get tickets, they pay the tickets easily since they are making so much money that those tickets (violations) don’t event create a dent in their business. Though, there is a risk attached for the drivers if caught by the authorities; though, the payoff is much bigger that the drivers are willing to overlook the risks of driving cars without proper licenses. There are additional controversy with Uber such as the one mentioned in Computers and Society class where the vice president of Uber made a speech in a room filled with reputable people about how they plan to investigate media reporters writing against Uber to use their personal/professional lives as leverage to stop writing negative reviews about Uber. Unfortunately, a reporter from Buzzfeed was in the audience by mistake who then reported about this ill Uber agenda.  

            In short, Uber is definitely making its mark on the transportation business. Despite many legal issues, people are dragged toward the service and that is why Uber is expanding rapidly. Let's see if it succeeds in becoming the disruptive technology that everyone is anticipating it might.