Hacker News Reader

Comment by sethammons | Hacker News Reader

I am not an app developer, so ignorant. Why not have different apps? Uber-India, Uber-Mexico, etc? Or if it is to be all one Global Uber app, why not have expansions that are downloaded for other regions as needed?

View on HN

Would you want to download a different app every time you traveled to a new country? If you're in the EU/APAC with many countries close together and travel for business?

Uber works relatively well in every country you go to, including at one point, China. Not many apps have ever accomplished that.

I wouldn’t mind if the app started up and said, “download the $country_or_region extension,” but that is just me (assuming it doesn’t require re-creating an account, or re-entering billing details).

Get off the plane in a developing country. Some of those airports are not nice. Some of them are nice shells that are almost deserted, with no wifi and a couple vendors that won't take your American credit card. Your "World Plan" often works, sorta, but you can't always get data due to different radio bands or because the network is simply not good enough for a 100+mb download. You'll either have to hop into a hopefully licensed taxi, or start walking in the dark in an industrial area (where airports usually are) in order to find a wifi hotspot or a street vendor that will sell you a SIM card. It's not fun.

Uber made the right choice.

Why does it take 100MB to download the business rules for that particular country? It will take some data, but you will need some to book the taxi anyway.

Pretty much the last thing I want to do every time I step off a plane is download, install, and sign into a new app before I can get into a car to go to my hotel.

Imagine yourself at an airport and trying to order Uber, but be forced to download new 50 MB app. You would immediately try some other app like Bolt or Lyft.

I'm from EU country and it was so convenient to be able to use Uber in NYC the same way as I would in my home town.

Friction and convenience. Always assume the user will not take the desired action because it most closely models reality.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com