Uber Mobile App - Literature review Example

Uber Uber, an American company with headquarters in San Francisco, builds, markets, as well as operates a transportation network service purely based on a mobile-app also called as Uber. Founded in 2009, it currently operates in more than 40 countries, including UK, covering close to 200 world cities (Owen 2014). Uber operates under the model, where the customer or traveller can book a car for travel through its mobile app, which would be provided or routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers in specific areas based on GPS. Basically, it is a car rental service which makes the car available to the customer just with few taps on their mobiles. Uber’s free app can be downloaded in mobiles and tablets from Apple’s App Store, Google Play, as well as in BlackBerry World. Fig 1: Downloading of app (Kosoff 2014) Once downloaded, the user has to sign up using his/her name, email ID, phone number, and credit card information. So, after logging in, the Uber’s interface appears providing details about the different rides and the related price tags as well as the numbers of people a ride will fit. Uber’s Black Car, SUV, UberX, UberXL, and others are the types of service offered. The user including business travellers and tourists by entering their location can check and find out the number of cars that could be available in their area. Fig 2: Presence of car in the selected area (Kosoff 2014) Then, “clicking into any of Ubers ride options shows you what you can expect to pay, how many people the car will fit, and the estimated time of arrival” (Kosoff 2014). Using the app, the customer can watch or track his/her booked Uber car in real time on the map, and can also call or text the driver if there is a need. After reaching the destination, the customer’s payment will be transacted using the already given credit card information or through PayPal, Uber Credits, and other options, and so there is no cash transactions involved thereby reducing hassles for the tourist and business travellers who may be new to the place. As far as the business travellers are concerned, there is an option for their respective company to pay for their ride. Although Uber is being or can be used by all sections of the population, tourists including business and leisure travellers will be focused here drawing on the theoretical literature. After landing in foreign lands, travelling internally using the available transportation structure forms a crucial part of tourists’ plans, time-management, and expenditure. Instead of depending on inflexible public transport systems, high-cost locally available taxi options, and even restricted hotel shuttle service in an unfamiliar city, tourists are maximally favouring pre-booked rental car services. As Norton and Ivanovic (2008, p.253) opine tourists prefer rental car services because they want to plan their own journeys and drive where they like, with business tourists renting a car to be able to their work based on their schedules. In that direction, omnipresent services like Uber is turning out to be a feasible and effective option because it is available in many countries and thereby will be known as well as used by sizable sections of the tourists. So, when tourists, who have already used Uber app or even the ones who are aware of it, are in need of rental cars with local drivers, they can easily book and utilize the service. Apart from the earlier discussed customer-friendly process or features, Uber specifically offers more services for the assurance of the travelling tourists than the traditional cab service. “To make travelers feel more comfortable about using a private car service, Uber allows customers to see a driver’s details as well as ratings that have been provided by previous passengers” (Dauner 2014). So, for example, tourist to UK can get more information about his/her Uber driver than one can receive about a black cab driver. At the same time, any Uber driver whose ratings fall below the set standards, he will be relieved from the service. One of key issues for tourists including business and leisure travellers is cash management. Although, tourists normally exchange and keep in hand the visiting country’s currencies, nowadays, they are maximally depending on credit cards to do their transactions because they find it easier and secure to carry it instead of carrying cash. “Customers increasingly use credit cards nowadays instead of cash and cheques, because of the added security and convenience” (Hayward 2000, p.261). In that direction, as mentioned earlier, the feature of paying through credit card and other non-cash options makes Uber a viable option for the tourists. In UK, it is also a cost-effective option with Uber being much cheaper than a black cab because it is based on surge pricing, where prices go up only during weekends and other peak times in line with the increased demands even while maintaining low prices during non-peak times. In line with this beneficial payment system, Uber also offers corporate billing system called “Uber for Business” where business travellers can pay for the ride using their respective company’s credit card information. So, companies particularly the small and medium-sized businesses are maximally providing this service to their employees because it eliminates the need for its employees to file separate travelling expense reports even while streamlining the company’s expenditure. In addition, Uber in association with other tourism related entities like Starwood Hotel offers number of benefits like ride points and resultant free stays to business travellers. So, from the above analysis it is evident that when the mobile app of Uber is applied to the hospitality stakeholder of tourist, particularly business and leisure travellers, it provides them various advantages. Although it seems that Uber provides advantages, when viewed from another perspective, it appears that Uber has certain negative attributes which can provide disadvantages to the stakeholders of tourists. Many sections question Uber at the basic level, which is that they are operating an unlicensed taxi rental service without the sanction of the governments of respective countries. Uber follows the crowd-sourcing model to bring in the drivers and so do not directly recruit them through a strong interview process including background checks. “In the UK, this means that anybody with a private hire vehicle licence can become an Uber driver” (Gill 2014). So, because of this model, many governments have banned Uber or declared it unsafe. For example, government of Denmark, certain state governments in India, and others have banned the operation of Uber service. On the same lines, French officials have restricted UberPop, which is a division of Uber that operates ride-sharing or carpooling service. It is regarded as illegal because of the French rule that service of carpooling should not be carried out for-profit basis. So, when the basic service or business model of Uber is being questioned and banned by the official governments of many countries, then it can raise concerns among the customers particularly the tourists visiting those countries. In addition, other controversies surrounding Uber particularly related to its failure in doing effective background checks on its drivers have led to serious problems for it thereby negatively influencing its image among the tourists. “It is quite common for job seekers to lie or hide about their background, education, and work experience, necessitating the need for background checks” (Cumberland and Riley 2012). For example, the rape of a working woman by an Uber driver in New Delhi, India has led to its banning by the New Delhi government and created a negative image for it. Although, the accused driver was arrested, it is learnt that a thorough background check was not done on him, because of which his earlier criminal history of sexual assault was not known. So, because of these incidents, the tourists might be sceptical about choosing Uber. In addition, this lack of official recognition for Uber from the governments and lack of background checks as well as inadequate training for its drivers makes the tourists, particularly the business travellers doubtful of Uber. Ridley (2014) has this to say about this dubious distinction of Uber, any crowdsourcing travel app that is not regulated by a central system, not endorsed by a government administration, not operated by a qualified and licensed driver with adequate background screening, and whose vehicles are not routinely serviced and inspected cannot be reasonably considered as an acceptable business travel option and Uber appears to fall into this category. The other technology-based criticism levelled against Uber, which could negatively influence the tourists particularly the business travellers, is the accusation that Uber staff track the movement of its customers. That is, under the illicit process called, “God Mode”, Uber’s staffs were accused of tracking business travellers, journalists, and politicians, so the details about their movements and the resultant business interests can be illegally sold to their opponents. “Location information often reveals the position of a person in real time, rendering the potential intrusion of privacy a critical and acute concern” (Xu, Teo, Tan and Agarwal 2009, p. 137). From the above critical analysis of the role of Uber in relation to the hospitality stakeholder of tourist, particularly business and leisure travellers, it is evident that Uber has both advantages and disadvantages. By providing customer-friendly features and flexible service, Uber can be of good help for tourists in unfamiliar cities. However, its illegal status in many countries, problems with their drivers, privacy issues, and others make it less reliable for the tourists. As Uber has expanded optimally in many countries and are being used in high numbers by the customers, it is paramount on the part of Uber to totally eliminate or minimize its disadvantages. References Cumberland, N and Riley, J., 2012. Successful Recruitment in a Week: Teach Yourself. Hachette UK. Dauner, M., 2014. Uber targets Business Travellers. Available from: https://www.travelandtransport.com/blog/corporate-travel/uber-targets-business- travelers/(accessed on 9 March 2015) Gill, R., 2014. Analysis: Sharing Economy and Business Travel. Available from: http://buyingbusinesstravel.com/feature/2023264-analysis-sharing-economy-and- business-travel(accessed on 9 March 2015) Hayward, P., 2000. Leisure and Tourism. Heinemann Norton, J and Ivanovic. M., 2008. FCS Science of Tourism L3. Pearson South Africa Kosoff, M., 2014. Heres how to use Uber, the incredibly easy App that could change your life. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-uber-2014-8?op=1(accessed on 9 March 2015) Owen, K., 2014. Uber Pro Tips. Available from: http://blog.uber.com/uberprotips(accessed on 9 March 2015) Ridley, T., 2014. Ubers threat to Business Travel Safety and Liability. Available from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141105070849-4545013-uber-s-threat-to-business-travel-safety-and-liability(accessed on 9 March 2015) Xu, H., Teo, H., Tan, BCY and Agarwal, R., 2009. “The Role of Push–Pull Technology in Privacy Calculus: The Case of Location-Based Services.” Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 135–173 Read More