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Comment by organsnyder | Hacker News Reader

How is their market share at all secured? It's not hard for anyone else to dump a bunch of scooters in a locale already swamped by Bird. Yes, users would have to install a different app, but my hunch is most users will use whatever scooter is closest and/or in the best repair (even if it means installing another app).

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I doubt the app will matter long-term. Mapping and transportation will be dominated by Google, Apple, and maybe Uber. City bikes, scooters, ride hailing, and any other alt transit options will eventually be forced to completely integrate into those apps and be forced to operate as a commodity.

It's pretty irritating to install a new app and go through a new-user onboarding. I know that I've walked past scooters for a competing app in favor of one I'm using.

If I start seeing them around enough I might go to the trouble, but that requires a fair amount of density to start working.

That works - to a price point. There's a threshold where the described behavior is overcome. I'm sure there's a marketing term for it (I don't know it) but the OP is not off-basis.

If some new company with deep enough pockets starts promising No Unlock Fee and $0.15/min, they could quickly capture a lot of Bird, Lime, etc's market share. They'd be burning cash at an unsustainable rate, but there is no moat between these businesses at the moment.

I could see this -- except Lyft and Uber are both getting in on the game, and people already have those apps, so if this is true, it's actually an argument against Bird, not for it.

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