Right now I agree that Uber commands loyalty only because there is no other alternative for users to be disloyal with. The fundamentals of its business is its agency model, which it is able to aggressively exploit right now because of first mover advantage – but what then? If it fails to build value through intellectual property, what will its differentiator be when competition starts hotting up. We’ve just seen it sell out of China…very early to exit one of the largest growth platforms on the planet today, right? So, I also agree, it’s current strategy is questionable.

One thing I love about Uber is the drivers, they are distinctly different from the typical taxi driver image we are used to. But we know that Uber does not value the drivers, it sees drivers as a burden and an annoyance. So again, a current differentiator from traditional taxis is one that Uber is seeking to end, when it finally does this, it becomes a robotics/AI company – but there a far better robotics/AI companies out there today, including SoftBank, IBM, Google.

So what happens then? Acquisition.

The one outcome we can expect is that a company e.g Google wants to enter the market with maximum share, and so buys Uber just for its installed user base. I compare this a little to Amazon buying LoveFilm. It knew it could have done it without the acquisition but it enabled fast entry and saved the marketing dollars which would have been spent on trying to differentiate two very similar offerings.

With Uber we are seeing another ‘unicorn’ falling victim to singularity.

Singularity is no longer a theory but a reality.