UBER is repeatedly mentioned as
the example of disruptive startups. Uber is active in 55 countries and has a market capitalization of approximately € 50 billion with a turnover of 213 million $ (2013). Shareholders are i.a. Goldman Sachs and Google. Sufficient capital and skills to build great success in Germany.
This month it was
announced that UBER initially stops its active operation at the sites Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg. In Berlin UBER Taxi is still operating, so is
UBER X in Munich. But Uber X is hardly known in Munich and UBER Taxi offers nothing more than the long-established app services such as
My taxi or
Easy taxi. No success story that resembles a unicorn company.
Why UBER failed in Germany - so far...
Uber has failed either to the German courts nor is the service so disruptive that it would simply be too progressive for the German consumers. Germany is one of the pioneers in innovative mobility services. Berlin is the world capital of carsharing and ridesharing is quite common in Germany for years. Herein lies the crux of UBER. In the US Ridesharing was no alternative. Too dangerous,because insurance coverage for passengers is often limited to $ 10,000. Hitchhiking is even forbidden in some states. Culturally, the US can simply not be compared with Germany in terms of alternative mobility.
UBER can only act disruptive in the countries in which mobility takes place mainly by private car or public transport. For mobility technically developed countries such as Germany, there is currently no legal gap between ridesharing, carsharing, taxi apps and chauffeur service apps. Disruption means innovation and not copy existing services outside the legal framework. The option for Uber in these countries is rather to learn from inside and change the market from the inside out, not viceversa. Buying successfull mobility start-ups would help to grow fast and would be smarter than trying to change the market with uproar and thereby also jeopardizing the brand image.
In Germany Uber Taxi and Uber X can actually not provide added value over taxi apps, chauffeur services and ridesharing. If UBER will maintain its claim as a unicorn, it needs to grow quickly. In March Carpooling, the quasi-monopolist in the German ridesharing market was taken over by the French ridesharer BlaBlaCar. Carpooling has had more than 5 million users. Apps like My Taxi have more than 10 million users in Germany.
New mobility is definetly one of the growth markets in Germany. So far Uber is right. UBER simply failed due to an inappropriate market entry strategy. So far.
Photo (c) UBER