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Each of these is a non-conventional approach to the business of getting from one spot to another - that is, not by traditional taxi model.
Uber started with a more conventional model, but has added UberX, which is similar in concept to the others - that being "crowd sourced" transportation force which is styled as a whole fleet of totally independent entrepreneurial types.
Does anyone else have any examples of other industries currently being or there being new concepts that can be highly disruptive to the current business models?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The Seattle city council is addressing this now due to the complaints from the taxi companies. There are other examples, one that I am thinking about joining is Taskrabbit, where normal people do tasks, chores, and even maintenance/repair work on the side without having a business. UShip allows people to go with a competitive bid system for low priced shipping rather than standard rates. One system of commerce that has existed probably 15 years now is the business-to-business bartering such as BizX, where credits are given and taken by members who need services. For example, a realtor needs signs, so he gets them from a member who makes them. The sign maker doesn't need to buy a home, but needs his roof cleaned so he uses his credits to pay the roofer.
Each of these is a non-conventional approach to the business of getting from one spot to another - that is, not by traditional taxi model.
Uber started with a more conventional model, but has added UberX, which is similar in concept to the others - that being "crowd sourced" transportation force which is styled as a whole fleet of totally independent entrepreneurial types.
Does anyone else have any examples of other industries currently being or there being new concepts that can be highly disruptive to the current business models?
by CURRENT business models, do you mean FASCISM? How people have to petition their gov't for the right to work? Just like in ancient times when people had no rights.
If we truly had a right to work in this country. (the right to work is using your arms, body, mind, doing stuff for other stuff or money, that's all it is) If we had that freedom in america, taxi's would not exist in the form they're in today.
Rides for 1 would be a LOT CHEAPER. You get rid of the unnecessary permit/licensure fees. You get rid of a lot of dead weight administration costs of the companies themselves too.
But alas, that is a time and place that one could only dream of, since it is currently illegal to be acting like a taxi in a city without the proper permits and licenses being paid. They will be shut down, because the taxis and local gov'ts are fascists together. Just like Hitler and IBM.
We watched the Seattle news feed the other night and saw the bit on the pink mustache rides (I found the double-entendre amusing) and the problems for the taxi "drivers." At issue is the "drivers" are not what people normally think of as independent drivers, but owners of taxi companies employing other people to drive.
One of the primary parts of this is regulation and a changing technology. Cities LOVE the income stream from licensed taxis. However, for the average person, the cost of taking a taxi has never been a bargain. I remember taking a few in the late 1960s in NYC and quickly deciding I had better uses for my money unless my dogs were just too sore to move. The costs of the licenses and the limiting effect that regulation had upon the free market relegated taxis to a (much needed) niche, but encouraged the use of public transport. IIRC, subway tokens were about 15 cents at the time.
Technology, job losses, and economic pressures have now made it possible for people to operate a taxi service "under the radar" at a discount. It'll continue to grow until a few passengers disappear or are mugged and the government gets to make it (like everything else) illegal.
The music industry, movies, television, land-line phones, and a host of other industries all have disruptions from technology and new ways of doing things. It has always been so.
Amazon.com is killing brick and mortar businesses daily
Bookstores are closing regularly due to electronic books (same goes for music/video stores)
Apple surpasses Coca Cola as the #1 brand this month
Kayak/Travelocity have buried travel agents
Disposable electronics have killed the "tv repair business"
Ebay/Craigslist are creating a secondary market that never existed on a large scale
Life really sucks if you had a TV repairman dad and a travel agent mom that owned a bookstore as a second business!
Your inheritance is gone.........
It's a service where you can schedule your laundry to be picked up /dropped off...but they don't appear to do the cleaning they work with established places.
Thought it was pretty interesting.
I'm also seeing Apps that let you order directly from your phone on the rise. Before it was call in.
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