- Hyatt Shifts Strategy in Plan to Sell $1.5 Billion in Hotel Real Estate Over Next 3 Years by Skrift. I sure hope Hyatt doesn’t waste $1.5 billion on it’s mobile app. I personally don’t like the plan on focusing on more wellness and alternative accommodation investments either but that might just be me.
- Uber says it will bring its flying taxis to Los Angeles in 2020 by LA Times. Goodluck with that. Uber can’t even run a taxi company properly let alone flying cars. When they say ‘flying cars’ what they most likely mean is ‘helicopters’ and guess what they already exist and Uber has already used them before. They also haven’t finalized design for the aircraft or even started discussions regarding regulation.
- JetBlue is Giving Out Complimentary Trips to 3 Destinations to Those Who Wish to Volunteer by Angelina Travels. Always love to see corporations trying to do good.
- Bank of America offering Google branded H2go force thermos for those who stop into a branch and set up Android pay via SJ0.
“The company’s earning decreased 73.4 percent to $16 million in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.”
Ouch Hyatt.
Let’s see those WoH changes rollback.
Will DoC you’re way off on your assessment of Uber here. I hate the company as much as the next guy for being shady among other things. But I feel like you’d benefit from a fact check/correction.
If you listen to any smart entrepreneurs they’ll tell you: uber is NOT a taxi company. They’re a tech company & they’re in the business of selling convenience first & foremost. That’s their core principle & market differentiator. They’re not just reinventing the wheel otherwise everyone would keep using taxis since that’ve also existed for a 100 yrs.
Next, they aren’t talking abt helicopters. You might wanna research a bit more before making yourself sound ignorant. Prototype flying cars already exist & are being tested as we speak. There are a plethora of companies competing for the future & literally working on the flying car concept that we all grew up with watching in sci fi movies. Uber most likely will choose from among the best of these to launch as a test market in LA if plans hold firm.
You have no idea how heavily aviation is regulated here in the US. Uber starting a flying taxi service by 2020 using any kind of not already certified aircraft, such as a scaled up drone design, is absolutely ludicrous. 2030 might be possible, but the FAA will have to get on board with people carrying autonomous technology. And what about ATC? The FAA has been trying to implement NextGen for the last 20 years (spoiler alert: they’re not very good at it), and now Uber thinks it’s a good idea to test and implement all of these new technologies in LA? Their marketing team clearly has no idea of the potential safety issues.
Furthermore, the idea that it can be done and cost the same as a current UberX car ride, is also ridiculous. Certification is expensive. Ongoing maintenance, as determined by the certified maintenance standards, will also not be cheap (but likely much less than a traditional helicopter). And what happens when one of these crashes? How much will Uber be able to afford to pay to settle the inevitable lawsuits?
I wish Uber the best, but it is historically difficult to make money in aviation. And when you’re the trailblazer? God help you. Read up on Eclipse, run by a Silicon Valley team that thought it was possible to revolutionize the bizjet market with VLJs. Look at Icon, trying to create a safe amphibian toy for low time pilots to fly (admittedly, it does look like a lot of fun). Icon’s prototype A5, a conventional aircraft, first flew in 2008 and only started deliveries this year. What Uber says they want to do is far, far more difficult.
> If you listen to any smart entrepreneurs they’ll tell you: uber is NOT a taxi company
Chris Sacca can stay they are a technology company all he wants, but you need to realize that Uber investors try to position it was a technology company as the multiples other investors will pay increases. It also means they can get away with running at a loss for much longer than other businesses.
Uber’s technology stack is incredibly weak, I don’t think their self driving cars are the industry leader and I don’t think they ever will be.
> Prototype flying cars already exist & are being tested as we speak
Cool, there is a much difference between a prototype being shown than there is in it being available for mass production and also being legal. Somebody above mentioned the FAA & ATC. Anything that flies has huge regulation around it. By the sounds of things Uber has done nothing in that regard and they plan for this to be at the same price point as UberX currently is in roughly three years time? That assertion is frankly absurd and I’m calling it out as such.
Uber is currently a taxi company. That is their core business and the only field they have gotten any real traction in and only in locations where they had the first mover advantage. In most cases they had that advantage because they broke local regulations regarding taxis. They are not going to be able to break regulation surrounding air transport and if they seriously think that’s an option in LA they are in for a world of hurt.
Uber is planning an IPO for 2019, as many as these absurd projects as they can have in the pipework before that release the better for them as investors will invest based on potential rather than reality.
Not impressed in the least by this new “Skift” magazine. Read through a half dozen or so of the glossy stories, none with the least bit of critical analysis or even hints of challenges on the proverbial range, and came up with a better title for the rag:
“Shill”