Both companies are facing a decisive year: The Ridehailing startup Uber is pushing for the stock market – and wants to gain a foothold in the important German market. With a large-scale advertising campaign, the US provider is currently attracting attention in Berlin.
Uber’s competitor Mytaxi will be called Freenow in the future. The German supplier is the central part of a new joint venture between Daimler and BMW. The carmaker Daimler had taken over the startup a few years ago. A total of one billion euros, both companies want to put in five joint ventures.
Mytaxi arranges taxis through its app, while Uber works with partner companies such as the Berlin chauffeur service Safedriver. Uber provides freelance drivers in other countries – but that’s not allowed in Germany.
The rules are under scrutiny
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer wants to change the rules and facilitate the operation of Uber. Only a few days ago, 700 angry taxi drivers demonstrated against the proposal of the Minister.
The dispute is also reflected indirectly in the two services Uber and Mytaxi, because the German provider mediates conventional taxis. “The taxi industry will go to the dogs, if the conditions of competition are not adjusted,” said Mytaxi boss Alexander monk the German press agency (DPA).
But how do the two players beat each other in this country?
Concrete figures on trips or sales for the German market both companies give out on demand. Together with the Berlin startup Priori Data, which was recently purchased by AppScatter, Gründerszene has analyzed the download numbers of Uber and Mytaxi for Germany. These are download estimates based on different data sources, such as App Store rankings. (A blog post from the company explains the method.)
Created with Highstock 6.0.7 Uber turns on app downloads in Germany (iOS) Mytaxi (ios) Uber (ios) Jan ’15 Jul ’15 Jan ’16 Jul ’16 Jan ’17 Jul ’17 Jan ’18 Jul ’18 Jan ’19 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 50k Priori Data
Although Uber is only available in a few cities so far, downloads are doing surprisingly well
This also speaks for the brand awareness. However, the download number says little about the actual usage. 100 regular users are better than 1,000 downloads that quickly delete their mobility app.
Since the launch in 2014, the Uber app has been downloaded 1.3 million times, according to the estimate.
Downloaded once. Mytaxi has 1.2 million downloads over the same period.
Created with Highstock 6.0.7 Mytaxi is on the front of Android App Downloads in Germany (Android) Mytaxi (Android) Uber (Android) Jan ’15 Jul ’15 Jan ’16 Jul ’16 Jan ’17 Jul ’17 Jan ’18 Jul ‘ 18 Jan ’19 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 50k 60k Priori Data
On Android Mytaxi comes to a total of 1.4 million downloads.
Downloads. At Uber 300,000 less, even if the service in recent months could catch up a little.
Even though the service has been able to catch up a bit in the past few months. It can be assumed that the Uber downloads also include numerous holidaymakers. For example Germans in the USA. Uber is available internationally in 600 cities, Mytaxi has 100 cities in Europe.
Also published on Medium.