Ride-hailing company Uber has changed its application programming interface (API) to allow iOS and Android developers to integrate a "Ride Request Button" into their apps:
Uber's latest growth strategy is to colonize the mobile app landscape with its new Ride Request Button. Launching today, iOS and Android app developers can more easily plug in an SDK with a few lines of code to add a Ride Request Button to their apps that deep-links into Uber's app. In exchange for the literal traffic, Uber will pay US developers $5 for each first-time rider they refer. Previously, developers had to hassle with building custom deep-linked integrations.
TechCrunch initially reported that Uber's policy banned app developers from adding similar hooks to competing services such as Lyft. The article has been updated to state the following:
What developers can't do is put the Uber button next to links or buttons for other car services, according to Uber's API terms, which say:
"You may not use the Uber API, Uber API Materials, or Uber Data in any manner that is competitive to Uber or the Uber Services, including, without limitation, in connection with any application, website or other product or service that also includes, features, endorses, or otherwise supports in any way a third party that provides services competitive to Uber's products and services, in our sole discretion."
The company confirmed to me that this policy stands for the Ride Request Button. It claims that this is because it wants to offer a consistent Uber experience in other apps, but it's a thinly veiled attack on competitors. Some services like Slack offer ways to instantly book a Lyft, and brands like Starbucks have built loyalty programs with the pink mustache cars. Uber's policy incentivizes it racing to sign up partners for its API as a way to block Lyft from getting integrated too if it launches an official API.
The latest version of Google Maps on iOS and Android adds an advertisment showing an Uber(X) fare estimate below public transportation options (a combination of bus and rail). Previously this had been introduced in 2014 for users in select cities.
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Google has updated its Android Maps application with the ability to store offline mapping and location data:
Google has upgraded its Android Maps app so it can provide directions when not connected to the internet. The software also lets devices find businesses' locations, opening hours and telephone numbers while offline. The firm said tourists visiting places outside their mobile subscription plans and people living in emerging markets, where data can be expensive, would be among those who would benefit most.
But one expert said budget-phone owners would now have to juggle data. "Entry-level Android smartphones sometimes only have four gigabytes of onboard storage, making it a precious resource," commented Ben Wood from CCS Insight. [...] Google said downloading most of Greater London would take up 380 megabytes on a device, while storing the San Francisco Bay area would require about 200MB.
It allows you to define a rectangular area specifying the mapping data you want to have available offline. The article mentions that Nokia Maps, now known as Here Maps, has offered a similar feature for years.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @01:14PM
"You may not use the Uber API, Uber API Materials, or Uber Data in any manner that is competitive to Uber or the Uber Services, including, without limitation, in connection with any application, website or other product or service that also includes, features, endorses, or otherwise supports in any way a third party that provides services competitive to Uber's products and services, in our sole discretion."
(Emphasis mine)
Wow... "we will fuck you with a big rubber dick in any one of your holes of our choosing and you will like it, in fact, you will ask for more!"
I wonder how they would even know this? Would their code go and crawl over the app in which it is integrated and hunt for Lyft or other's code (since it's all in the same process)?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @04:15PM
Sounds anti-competitive. Shouldn't that violate anti-trust laws?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by goodie on Friday December 04 2015, @01:56PM
Go f$ck yourself. If I write an app and I want to offer choice to my users, I will do what I want. That's like Microsoft saying visiting Google should not provide any links to Chrome etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @02:16PM
I haven't fsck'ed myself in ages, but then, I do run a modern file system.
(Score: 3, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Friday December 04 2015, @02:49PM
Go f$ck yourself.
Not the kind of ride I'm lookin' for.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @02:35PM
Shady as ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @03:27PM
I don't get how Uber can whine about having exclusionary practices apply to them, and yet turn around and have an exclusionary practice like this plainly stated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @04:16PM
OK, but why on earth would I want to ride a request button?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 04 2015, @10:47PM
People are increasingly good at ignoring advertising.
This is just an example of the advertising being integrated into the content.