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Comment by nunez | Hacker News Reader

Uber has a solid worldwide presence. Lyft does not.

You can go into nearly any state and most countries (I think all of the first world countries and a bunch of second world ones too) and book an Uber.

As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance.

If Lyft could light up worldwide scale right now, they absolutely would have. Something is holding them back. It's likely new rideshare laws that Uber spawned due to it having first mover advantage.

Disclosure: I am a Lyft user and deleted my Uber account.

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> As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance.

Well, except they do because the local market is simply huge. There is room for multiple competitors.

Just like we have ATT, Verizon, Etc.

Regional monopolies or there is some kind of differentiation between the plans. Additionally, they bribe customers into signing multi-year contracts.

It is a totally different space from taxis, where the experience is mostly fungible.

Uber is really bad in SouthEast Asia, Grab is by far the most used here, especially in Singapore, Thailand and co. Uber is also useless in China... Grab just offers so much more from motorcycle rides, delivery service, payment etc...

In germany and other european countries Uber is also completly useless, they have to use local law abiding apps like MyTaxi.

So no, Uber does not have a solid worldwide presence i would say, Singapore, Germany and other are clearly what u call first world...

Everyone keeps forgetting that Lyft has first-mover advantage. Lyft basically created ride-sharing, Uber was a black-car company and had to play catch-up to Lyft.

lyft somewhat had first mover advantage in SF. Uber had first mover advantage in every other city. Uber already existed in SF and was doing black car rides and a lot of people in NY/SF knew of it - which Uber used to leapfrog Lyft's first move advantage.

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