INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The transportation giant already sees 75 million riders per month and 15 million rides per day
But to grow in the developing world, it had to rethink its app to work on the oldest phones and slowest networks
The Android app takes up just 5 megabytes
percent of users in India on sluggish 2G networks
developing markets after retreating while cutting deals with local winner like Didi in China, Grab in Southeast Asia, and a forthcoming
arrangement with Yandex in Russia
Uber has reported has talked with Ola about a possible merger in India, sources have told TechCrunch and others
down the main app, but building it up from scratch
megabyte standard version, Uber Lite is a lot easier for low-storage phones to handle
Uber Lite launches not to a map or a text entry box, but instead a suggested nearby business or landmark based on your GPS
It also tries to guess your destination based on pre-cached popular city spots
Payment for now is cash only
peer-to-peer Bluetooth mesh network or other technology
One other interesting test its running in India lets users punch in a code found at a bus stop to instantly hail a ride there
Another lets older or less phone savvy users phone in to an accessibility team that can hail a ride for them
and a way to share your ETA with loved ones so they can watch out for you
If the company is going to be unavoidable, making it secure and accessible is a pretty good reason to wake up in the morning.
