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posted by janrinok on Friday December 19 2014, @06:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the for-richer-for-poorer dept.

After Uber's success, nearly every pitch made by starry-eyed technologists “in Silicon Valley seemed to morph overnight into an ‘Uber for X’ startup" with various companies described now as “Uber for massages,” “Uber for alcohol,” and “Uber for laundry and dry cleaning,” among many, many other things. The conventional narrative is this: enabled by smartphones, enterprising young businesses are using technology to connect a vast market willing to pay for convenience with small businesses or people seeking flexible work. Now Leo Marini writes that the Uber narrative ignores another vital ingredient, without which this new economy would fall apart: inequality.

"There are only two requirements for an on-demand service economy to work, and neither is an iPhone," says Marini. "First, the market being addressed needs to be big enough to scale—food, laundry, taxi rides. Without that, it’s just a concierge service for the rich rather than a disruptive paradigm shift, as a venture capitalist might say. Second, and perhaps more importantly, there needs to be a large enough labor class willing to work at wages that customers consider affordable and that the middlemen consider worthwhile for their profit margins." There is no denying the seductive nature of convenience—or the cold logic of businesses that create new jobs, whatever quality they may be concludes Marini. "All that modern technology has done is make it easier, through omnipresent smartphones, to amass a fleet of increasingly desperate jobseekers eager to take whatever work they can get."

 
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  • (Score: 2) by strattitarius on Friday December 19 2014, @07:21PM

    by strattitarius (3191) on Friday December 19 2014, @07:21PM (#127553) Journal
    Excellent point about how much they are putting on the line for a relatively small return.
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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday December 19 2014, @08:32PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 19 2014, @08:32PM (#127577) Journal

    Yeah, and it's pretty clear that the supply side of Uber is going to blow out sooner or later.

    Like when people get tired of scrubbing vomit out of their back seat, they're going to wonder if it's worth it.

    When it stops being yuppies enjoying a new experience, and starts being grouchy assholes taking the driver for granted, taking our their problems on them like any other retail employee. People are going to ask if they are maybe underpaid.

    When serious liabilities start adding up, they're going to wonder if it's worth the risk.

    Uber is fueled mostly by novelty. It won't die, but it'll start accumulating everything that makes people not like taxis.