About a month ago, I was one of the very first people to ride an Uber car in New York City a few hours after the company put a few test cars out on the streets. It was supposed to be a secret, but I found out about it, and texted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick while I was in the car. Last night was Uber's "official" launch in New York City with about 100 cars which can be summoned via an iPhone app. Kalanick spent some of his recently raised $11 million to host a fancy dinner at Del Posto. I talked to Kalanick about the launch (watch the video below), and during the dinner he showed everyone some incredible slides depicting heat maps of San Francisco (where Uber is fully launched) and New York City. These slides really drive home how Uber is using data to gain a competitive advantage, gauge demand, and get its model right. The map at right shows all the places in New York City where the Uber app was opened even before the service was available. (I guess I wasn't the only one waiting for it?Boston, Chicago, D.C., and Seattle are next).
Cameron Richardson Chandra West Kasey Chambers Megan Ewing Kristanna Loken
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