Yeah but that's not tech, the positive are just result from legal loop holes. I would say though that Taxi companies now have proper app because Uber forces them to catch up with the tech. Calling taxi in the pre-Uber era was literally hell.
> Calling taxi in the pre-Uber era was literally hell.
We clearly live in two completely separate parts of the world. I'm from Denmark (where Uber ran away after being told they had to operate as a taxi company) and calling a taxi was never a problem for me. You called the dispatch, said roughly where you were, and they can by with a dude in a car who you then told where you wanted to go. By now the taxi companies have apps too, but the experience is roughly identical.
The prices suck, but that's not really a usability problem.
Uber couldn’t exist before a critical mass had a smartphone with GPS in their pocket. I don’t see what the bar is if we don’t consider it revolutionary. Anything that goes mainstream is going to eventually feel pedestrian and watered down from a tech perspective. But if you look at how most people lived and worked 30 years ago to today it’s a massive change.
I’m not sure where you are from, but this is not my perspective from Northern California.
1. Apps in general, and Uber in particular, have very much revolutionized the part-time work landscape via gig work. There are plenty of criticisms of gig work if/when people try to do it full time, but as a replacement for part time work, it’s incredible. I always try to strike up a conversation with my uber drivers about what they like about driving, and I have gotten quite a few “make my own schedule” and “earn/save for special things” (e.g., vacations, hobby items, etc.). Many young people I know love the flexibility of the gig apps for part-time work, as the pay is essentially market rate or better for their skill set, and they get to set their own schedule.
2. AirBnB has revolutionized housing. It’s easier for folks to realize the middle class dream of buying an house and renting it out fractionally (by the room). I’ve met several people who have spun up a a few of these. Related, mid-term rentals (e.g., weeks or months rather than days or years) are much easier to arrange now than they were 20 years ago. AirBnBs have also created some market efficiency by pricing properties competitively. Note that I think that many of these changes are actually bad (e.g., it’s tougher to buy a house where I am), but it’s revolutionary nonetheless.