All on Uber in Asia with Josh Horwitz
Josh Horwitz from Quartz joined us to discuss all things Uber in Asia. From how Uber ramp up their operations to their recent troubles with regulation in Asian markets, we analysed how they are shaping up against their Asian competitors in China, India & Southeast Asia: Kuaidi-Didi Dache, Grabtaxi, Olacabs and Gogovan. After our Uber conversation, Josh also shared what the Taiwanese government is currently doing to build the startup ecosystem and discuss which kind of startups are thriving in Taiwan.
Here are the interesting notes and links to the discussion:
- The story of Josh Horwitz from Quartz
- From Tech in Asia to Quartz
- What made you start in covering technology in Asia and why you have chosen Taiwan?
- A short conversation about traditional and simplified chinese in Asia.
- Uber in Asia
- A quick intro to Uber and what it does
- How rapidly has it expanded in Asia? How do they launch in each city leveraging on the tech community and tech conferences as early adopters?
- Does Uber actually localise and adapt it services in Asia countries? For example, India accepting cash payments?
- What are the challenges which Uber face in Asia?
- Uber’s controversies in Asia. Which are the countries (India, South Korea, Taiwanese, Philippines) which banned Uber and what are the reasons for doing so?
- Can Uber really survive in China given Tencent and Alibaba backed the two largest companies into a merger and with Baidu backing them and also the nationalist policies given that only Apple is successful in China?
- How is Uber shaping up against competitors in Asia: China (against Kuaidi and Didi Dache), Southeast Asia (GrabTaxi), Hong Kong + Indonesia + Taiwan (Easytaxi), its entry into logistics in Hong Kong (Gogovan), India (Olacabs)?
- References for the conversation on Uber:
- 5 challenges Uber will face as it expands in Asia
- Uber isn’t dead in China – it’s just waking up
- EasyTaxi runs out of gas in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and India
- Uber’s terrible month continues as Taiwan’s transportation ministry declares it illegal
- Uber ignores possible government crackdown, test launches UberX in Korean capital
- Uber’s got competition in India – Bangalore-based Olacabs nets another massive funding round
- Uber continues its China expansion as it launches in Hangzhou and Chengdu
- Uber continues its greater China hiring spree with job openings in 12 second-tier cities
- Uber finally rides into Hong Kong
- ‘Uber for logistics’ is already happening in Asia, and Uber is getting left behind.
- Fake drivers and passengers are boosting Uber’s growth in China
- Taiwan Startup Ecosystem
- How is the Taiwanese government helping startups?
- What are the most exciting startups in Taiwan? Gogoro, iChef, Team+
Podcast Information:
The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bleongcw) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) and Linkcious (and check out their other product, Chiibi).
