Nice job avoiding the cliche "Amazon of (blank)"... Uber announced changes to its app on Thursday — it's all designed to make the mobility company the "operating system for your everyday life." Sound fancy. Here's what you'll see when you open the new app:
- Food and rides now get equal treatment: Right away you have to select "Get a ride" or "Order food." Less thinking. The Uber Eats bachelor era as an independent app is over.
- Safety. Safety. Safety: Uber's adding features to help you and your driver verify it's really Jesse behind the wheel. It'll also let you report problems mid-ride, not just after.
- 2 wheels, 4 wheels, 8 wheels: Continuing Uber's inclusive fairness, it's more clearly featuring scooters and bikes, and nudging you to take buses or subway when it makes sense. San Francisco, Mexico City, and Paris get a new transit feature.
1-Star. From everyone... Uber's facing hate from Wall Street, regulators, and politicians. So it's also making some friendly non-design moves, like adding allergy-friendly filters to food delivery in case the gluten in that pad thai will ruin your night. It's also helping drivers honestly estimate how much money they'll make because knowing that's kinda important.
Silicon Valley needs a win... Uber's stock price is down to $30, way below the $45 it IPO'd at (which was already underwhelming). Many of its 2019 tech IPO classmates are also unprofitable and also down:
- SmileDirectClub, Lyft, Slack — all dropped since their IPOs
- Even Peloton fell 12% in its 1st 2 days on public markets (listen to our 15-minute IPO-day interview with the COO of Peloton here).
- WeWork and talent agency Endeavor have both postponed/canceled their IPOs.
- Uber's the valedictorian of this class, hoping to lead by example.