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Uber Performs U-turn on Macau Exit Plan (reuters.com)
Reuters reports:Global ride-hailing company Uber Technologies has aborted plans to pull out of Macau, citing support from residents in the Chinese-ruled gambling hub. Uber launched in Macau less than a year ago but announced at the end of August that it would withdraw from the former Portuguese colony because its drivers faced total fines of 10 million patacas ($1.25 million). The Macau government has taken a firm stance against Uber, with Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak stating that the service violated local laws. "After much deliberation, Uber will continue to serve the riders and drivers of Macau, the company said in a statement on its website. "The unprecedented amount of support we received over the past few weeks has been overwhelming."
Uber "Technologies" is kind of a misnomer. They are more of a overvalued hedge fund than anything else.
Uber is not a tech company. It's a lobbying company. Anybody can clone its app. Its strength is to make politicians change laws to accept Uber, and/or operate illegally without too much problems.
In most jurisdictions, you need special permits and/or plate and/or insurance and/or background check and/or to pay taxes when you offer taxi service, which is exactly what Uber drivers are doing. There is no sharing, except with UberPool, but in all cases there is no sharing with the driver.
Please call them what they are : a taxi company.
No need to repeat their marketing drivel.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Uber is not a tech company, whatever they claim.
Sure, their business may be driven by an app and a server "cloud" backend - but so do lots of other businesses. It is nothing special about it - and it is definitely not nerdy.
So please, Slashdot, please stop giving this cheap taxi service more free publicity!
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley