don't race to the bottom as a foreign firm against locals in China. you won't win. they will go much lower and harder and longer than you will. they will turn the heat off in the -12C winter and have people coding in their parkas to save cash.

i hung out with some of the Uber e-staff and founders when they were in China. i think the most memorable quote was "there's what works for every other country in the world and then there's China".

i think they stood a chance if they had positioned themselves as an upscale service. foreign brands convey status. they could have had something there that the locals didn't. but that's not what they're doing everywhere else in the world, and i understand them not being willing to split their strategy for the market.

so i guess they went with firepower. and i would guess they knew it had a low chance of success. entry into China is hard. that trail is lined with bodies, every drop of blood sucked dry.

it's difficult understand until you see it for yourself. there are people arranging fake uber rides online to split the subsidies. but they had some idea. it's a big market and Uber has a lot of cash, but $1B is still a big bet with such bad odds.