India investigates whether Uber makes iPhone users pay more to ride India’s government has ordered an investigation into whether Uber and local ride-share champion charge Ola customers more if they use iPhones. Consumer complaints about the practice of “differential pricing” – charging more depending on a user’s perceived ability to pay – became a hot topic in India late in 2024, when the …
You can see clearly on the map one is slightly further from the destination. The order has not yet since been placed so the app will get the closest to both which will be the same taxi due to time difference. If it was not then I would expect them to be the same time. This goes down to odds. What are the odds the time difference is what I assume or different drivers?
There are two separate calls for taxis. Why would they send just one taxi simply because two calls come from the same location?
Do you believe that everybody leaving one location are all going to the same destination? Everybody who goes to a theatre show all live in the same block of flats?
"Even if rideshare companies are charging iPhone users more, it’s not going to impact most Indian citizens because feature phones and low-cost Android handsets dominate the local market.
If rideshare companies are finding ways to make iPhone owners pay more, they’re therefore targeting some of India’s wealthiest citizens. Which may be why the minister wants to get to the bottom of the matter."
Sounds like it was written by an Uber shill. Suddenly el reg thinks it's ok for companies to lie to the government if it's having a negative effect on iPhone users?
El Reg, avoiding biting the hand that feeds Google.
The likes of Uber are not ride-sharing companies.
They are minicab firms pretending to be ride-sharing companies, and pretending the drivers they employ are self-employed contractors, so they can avoid their obligations to do things like background checks, PAYE and minimum wage.
Yes, only the 11% that buy iPhones - which would be over 100 million people if that 11% is or is similar to the installed base. Does the author really think that a country shouldn't bother policing those breaking the law unless a majority of citizens are affected?
"Even if rideshare companies are charging iPhone users more, it’s not going to impact most Indian citizens because feature phones and low-cost Android handsets dominate the local market." Moot point since "most Indian citizens" are not in the Target Group for Uber / rideshare companies. At most, their TG is the Top 10% - and everyone in that 140M segment of the population surely has smartphones including iPhones. JFYI, Apple iPhone is the largest selling smartphone brand in India by value. And, among Top 10%, which is the real relevant target audience in this context, Apple might have a sizeable market share even by volume (I'm guessing 20-25%). So the alleged discriminatory pricing is not all that insignificant a topic.
"Uber and Ola responded to the CCPA probe by denying they use differential pricing." Rideshare price depends on time and location. Even if the price readings on the two phones were taken at the exact same time, they can't have been taken at the exact same GPS coordinates.
"But that didn’t satisfy Joshi, who in an answer to a parliamentary question said the matter had been sent for further investigation." Until rideshare companies came along around 10-15 years ago, auto rickshaws and black-and-yellow taxis never collected nor remitted sales tax / service tax / GST to Government of India. Uber, Ola et al do. Accordingly, rideshare companies have provided an additional source of tax revenue for GoI. Safe to assume that the alleged discriminatory pricing will boost the topline of Uber / Ola and, accordingly, GST revenue of GoI. OTOH govt has duty to consumers, OTOrH govt has vested interest in higher revenue of Uber / Ola, it'd be interesting to watch how this inherent conflict of interest gets resolved.
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