Ride Together
After settling on launching a service like Uber somewhere other than Korea, in the United States, I asked Zero a few questions before I got serious about planning.
Zero.
“Yes, Master.”
“What’s the situation in the U.S.? Is it like Korea, where taxis are scarce? Do they have ride refusal there too?”
“Conditions in major American cities are far more severe than in Korea. In particular, New York and San Francisco operate under a strict taxi supply cap through a system called medallions.”
Zero went on.
“The shortage is especially acute late at night, when public transit shuts down, and in areas away from the city center or around college campuses. Demand is overflowing, to the point that illegal taxis known as gypsy cabs have become widespread, but supply cannot keep up.”
“No matter where you go, it’s the same story.”
People really were much the same wherever they lived.
For me, though, that was good news.
If people were suffering from an inconvenience, all I had to do was solve it, and money and fame would follow.
In other words, it was an opportunity.
But then... wait.
“Zero, wasn’t Uber already in the U.S.?”
As far as I knew, Uber had started business in March of 2009.
Although, right now, it was probably still called UberCab rather than Uber.
“The current Uber is a premium ride-hailing model that summons luxury limousines such as black Mercedes-Benzes and Lincoln Town Cars. It differs from Master’s concept of using ordinary passenger cars.”
“So it’s basically a private chauffeur service for rich people. That’s a lot different from the kind of sharing economy I had in mind.”
“Yes. It is an entirely different service.”
The Uber of the future changed the world with UberX, where anyone could drive their own car for money.
But in its early days, which meant right now, that version didn’t seem to exist yet.
In other words, true vehicle-sharing economics hadn’t even been born.
If I started now, I would become the pioneer of this enormous market.
“In any case, that means there are empty cars all over the roads in America too, right?”
“Correct. In fact, because the United States has a much larger landmass than Korea and weaker public transit infrastructure, private car ownership is far higher. There are more than enough available resources for a vehicle-sharing economy.”
Everything Zero said up to that point was positive.
But then she added something more cautious.
“However, Master, there is a critical risk. Trust.”
“Trust?”
“The United States is a culture with a high degree of wariness toward strangers. People are very reluctant to get into an unfamiliar person’s car. Especially in a country full of horror stories about hitchhiking crimes, if you launch this service for the general public, the initial barrier to entry will likely be extremely high.”
Ah. I had heard those stories before.
The kind that said travelers in America would chase romance, hitchhike, and vanish without a trace.
In a country so full of those grim rumors, if you told people to use their phones to call some stranger’s car and ride with them, nobody would touch it.
“Trust, huh...”
I scratched my head and stared out the window, thinking.
Countless cars were rolling along the road.
There were so many empty seats out there, yet nobody would get in because they were scared.
“It’d be a waste to just leave that sitting there.”
At the same time, if I waited until the sharing economy had fully taken root and then tried to enter the market, going up against Uber would probably get complicated.
...Wait. Then I just need to make riding in someone else’s car not scary.
It was scary to get into a stranger’s car.
It was scary to let a stranger into your car.
Then what if they were someone you knew? Or someone whose identity was verified?
I said to Zero immediately,
“Zero, let’s narrow the service target first. Start with people whose identities are easy to verify and who can trust each other... yeah, college students and faculty only.”
“You mean a service targeting universities?”
“Yeah. Facebook started out by letting only Harvard dorm students in, right? Then it expanded to the Ivy League, and then to college students across the U.S.”
“...”
“Then even regular people who weren’t students got interested in the service, and before long it spread beyond America to the whole world.”
That was right. Facebook had started as a closed community.
It had been born from a slightly ironic need: people wanted to boast about and share their private lives, but they didn’t want to show them to just anyone.
“There was a sense of belonging and safety in being part of a private community used only by our school. Once it became famous among the public and demand appeared, it opened up to everyone.”
I continued my train of thought.
“Make school email verification mandatory when signing up, and have both drivers and riders be students or faculty.”
For example, if an upperclassman from Harvard drove and a Harvard freshman rode with them, that ought to solve the trust issue.
“Of course, students from other schools could ride too if they were nearby... but what do you think?”
“Excellent, Master. It will dramatically reduce trust costs while raising early-user density. And if we frame it as a fee for splitting gas costs rather than as a taxi fare, we can also avoid direct legal attacks from the American taxi industry.”
It felt like a big plan had taken shape in an instant.
The fine details would have to be worked out while actually building the service and app.
“...”
I looked out the window and thought about how the service should be designed, and how it could be made efficient.
“We’re here, sir.”
“Thank you.”
I got out of the taxi and opened the familiar apartment entrance.
It was after one in the morning. I had naturally assumed everyone in the family would be asleep, but...
“Son, you’re home?”
“You’re back.”
“Oppa!”
The living room lights were bright. My parents and Seohee were there, welcoming me.
I had only been gone for a week, but it looked like they had all been waiting up for me.
My mother asked,
“Did you eat? Was it the freshman orientation gathering today? Did you drink a lot?”
“Just a moderate amount. But why are you still awake?”
“You said you were coming home, so we had to see your face before going to bed.”
My mother took my coat and smiled.
My father said nothing, but there was pride and affection in the way he looked at me.
Seohee teased me.
“Ooooh, college boyyyyy.”
I snorted.
Maybe it was because I’d just spent the taxi ride sketching out an app with Zero, but the ordinary warmth of my family felt strangely fresh to me.
Right. This is what I came back in time to protect.
I gave a little laugh and said,
“You must be tired, so go on and get some sleep. I’m going to wash up and sleep too.”
“All right. I’ll make something delicious for you tomorrow, so get a good rest.”
“Okay.”
After spending a short but pleasant bit of time with my family, I headed to the bathroom.
By the time I’d showered and gone to my room, it was nearly two in the morning.
My body felt limp with fatigue, but my mind was oddly alert.
Strike while the iron’s hot...
I decided to go straight into working on the idea I’d come up with in the taxi.
I turned on the computer at once.
“Zero, let’s start app development. First, the app name...”
After a moment’s thought, I typed on the keyboard.
“Let’s call it Ride Together.”
My naming sense was a little plain, so it came out somewhat folksy.
“It seems like a highly intuitive name, Master.”
“...Really?”
That was a relief.
I got straight to work.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
I laid out the broad framework, and Zero filled in the details in real time.
Shhhrk-shhhhrk.
Code flooded the monitor and was revised at speed.
“For this kind of service, the rating system is important. So we need ratings not just for drivers but for riders too.”
For example, people who smoked in the car, drove recklessly, showed up late, or behaved rudely would have their star rating reduced.
“If the rating drops below 3.0, permanent suspension from the service... I should emphasize that.”
“Introducing a rating system will create the image that only polite people can use it. Anyone will keep their manners in check when using Ride Together. Everyone cares about their score.”
Fair enough.
I kept working.
After a long stretch of development.
Finally, I had to think about the most important thing of all: how I would actually make money with Ride Together.
“Zero, a service like this is basically a commission business. What should we set the fee at?”
“For platform services, securing market share is the top priority in the early stage. It would be advantageous to set the initial commission at 0 percent and keep passenger usage free for the time being.”
“So I’m supposed to invest my own money to gather users first?”
“Correct. As Master knows, the value of a platform comes from its user base.”
Well, that was why FreeChat was completely free and ran ads.
It sold emojis, though.
As an aside, emoji sales in Japan had been climbing steadily.
According to Zero’s estimate, this month alone would see over three million emoji sales.
Shhhhrk-shhhhrk-shhhhrk.
Server setup, UI design, matching algorithms, and more.
What would normally take a startup months was finished.
By then, the sun was rising outside the window.
So the development is done... but...
I wanted to release the app to the world as soon as possible, but there was one thing on my mind.
If things went like they did in Korea, Uber in America must have faced lawsuits and backlash from the taxi industry at the beginning too.
Even if someone sued us, Zero could beat them by using Vincent.
Besides, Zero had drafted the terms and conditions based on American legal data, so there shouldn’t be any legal errors to begin with.
But still, the best outcome was to cut off any possible grounds for a lawsuit from the start.
In that case...
“Zero. Bundle the source code, the terms, and the business plan, then send them to Vincent. And tell him to finish the legal review and send back a written opinion right away.”
As if she had already expected my order, Zero answered at once.
“I have already organized the materials to send to Vincent, Master.”
“Already?”
“Yes. This sharing economy service is a model that touches the gray zone of American transportation law. I judged that entering it without safeguards would not suit Master’s style.”
Zero continued.
“I will instruct him to prepare an official legal review document for the purpose of eliminating future lawsuits at the source and securing credibility for Apple’s review process.”
“Yeah, do that.”
Just as I was about to wrap things up...
“Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Promote this app through FreeChat the same way we promoted Clear Cam. We’re targeting top university students in the U.S. first, so that should be possible, right?”
“Yes. The FreeChat terms of service include a clause stating that Another Technology may use personal information to provide better services. It is therefore entirely permissible to send promotional chat messages to prospective users.”
“Good. Go ahead with that too.”
With that, the major preparations seemed complete.
The service that Uber would eventually launch, my own version, Ride Together.
A few days later, on Monday.
Apple headquarters in California, USA.
“You’ve brought me garbage.”
Whoosh- crack!
Steve Jobs hurled the prototype ApplePad away.
With touch response like that, it was a failure not worth testing further.
Jobs didn’t even bother giving the development team feedback himself.
His secretary would find the discarded ApplePad on the floor later and relay the message to them anyway.
“Hmph...”
Losing interest in the ApplePad, Jobs glanced at his monitor and checked his emails and documents with detached focus.
Then something caught his eye.
APPLICATION REVIEW REQUEST
Tens of thousands of applications poured in, and every week hundreds or even thousands of reviews were requested.
He didn’t personally review all of them as CEO. Frankly, ninety-nine percent of them were beneath the threshold anyway, so he wasn’t interested.
But there was one developer he was keeping an especially close eye on.
Reviewer: Another Technology
“How long has it been since they released Clear Cam, and they’re already submitting another one?”
Jobs opened the review request, interested.
App Name: Ride Together
Purpose: College carpool matching service
“...A college carpool?”
Carpooling? Was he trying to digitally implement the dreams of 1960s hippies?
Tsk tsk.
Jobs clicked his tongue.
In his youth, Jobs had loved hippie culture more than anyone.
Which meant he understood its limits just as clearly.
He had come to realize that notions like sharing, giving, love, and peace were vague and, in practice, impossible.
Human beings are fundamentally selfish. The theory of original sin is the correct one.
Even among hippies, very few truly tried to live that way.
And on top of that, it’s not even aimed at ordinary colleges...
It’s targeting only students and faculty at top American universities?
Jobs muttered with cold amusement.
“Kids these days are worse. Ivy League students with their noses in the air, riding in a stranger’s car just to save a few bucks on gas? And risking dirtying my car seat?”
Steve judged that Another Technology’s Ride Together went against the human instinct of possession.
It was a plan that was obviously doomed to fail.
And honestly, after expecting so much from Another Technology, the fact that they had come up with nothing more than a carpool service was a little disappointing.
“But...”
He ran the test version.
Smooth UI, intuitive user experience, and perfectly optimized code.
Technically, there was nothing to criticize.
No, it was beautiful.
“...Their skill at making applications really is unbelievable.”
They were genuinely a company, and a talent, he would have loved to have.
Jobs spent a while checking the test version of Another Technology’s new app.
The next day.
Well... the Ride Together app itself doesn’t seem like a problem.
Not only the app, but the service itself seemed to have been designed with enormous legal care.
Just in case, he had ordered Apple’s legal team to look into it, and they had all shaken their heads and said, “If this app has a problem and we have to sue Another Technology, I’d rather hand in my resignation.”
If my legal team is saying that much, then Vincent the lawyer at Another Technology must be extraordinary.
Thinking that, Jobs clicked “approve.”
He even gave a dry laugh.
But this service will fail.
People didn’t want to get into the cars of strangers they didn’t know well.
They didn’t want to take on a passenger just to save a few dollars on gas.
My instincts won’t be wrong.
No matter how many huge successes Another Technology had chained together, this time they would fail.
If this app fails... then I should contact Another Technology. Tell them to stop wasting their time and come to Apple to code instead.
Even as he thought that.
Jobs suddenly had another thought.
If this app succeeds...
He thought about it.
Then shook his head sharply.
...Impossible. I’m not wrong.
Confident that Ride Together would fail, Jobs moved on to the next item of business.
After Ride Together officially launched on Tuesday.
Time passed quickly, and Friday arrived.
Friday night, in front of a pub near Stanford University in the United States.
Four male students were crouched on the sidewalk.
“Damn it... I didn’t even talk to a single girl today.”
“The competition was insane. Why are there so many guys here?”
“Nicholas, you said this place had way more women!”
“...Sorry. It definitely did last week.”
“We all got dressed up and came out, and now we’re just hanging around together. What the hell is this?”
“I even put on cologne. The expensive kind, sixty bucks a bottle.”
“I sprayed Febreze.”
“Maybe that’s why the girls didn’t come near us?”
“Should we make plans with girls in advance next time we go out?”
“You mean make a plan to hang out four-on-four? Fine for one-on-one, maybe, but how are you supposed to arrange a four-on-four?”
“Fair point.”
The students went on with their petty chatter.
“Hey, but how are we getting back to the dorm? You’re not planning to stay out all night, are you?”
“How else? We’ll take a taxi. Hang on. I’ll call a cab.”
Nicholas used his Apple phone to call a taxi company.
When the cab still hadn’t arrived after a long while, a friend asked,
“Nicholas, when’s the taxi supposed to get here? Are they actually sending one?”
“Well... they keep saying they will, but they don’t know when.”
“This is insane. It’s at least a fifty-minute walk back to the dorm. And why is it so cold?”
“Probably because it rained earlier.”
The street was full of cars. But there wasn’t a single one they could take.
Judging by the direction, there seemed to be plenty of cars going toward Stanford University too.
“All the taxis already have passengers.”
“There are way too few taxis. The mayor seriously needs to increase the number.”
“Ugh, it’s cold... I need to get back to the dorm fast or I’m going to catch a cold.”
“Want to hitchhike?”
“...That’s kind of scary. What if it’s some weird person’s car?”
“You look like you could wrestle a bear, and you’re worried about that?”
“Then should we call a police car? Ask them to give us a ride? Isn’t ‘to protect and serve’ the whole reason police exist?”
“As if.”
“What about a fire truck?”
“...If you’re going to spout nonsense, shut up already. I’m pissed enough as it is about the taxi shortage.”
Whether they were Korean college students or American ones, it made no difference.
Late at night, everyone wanted to get home quickly.
Even if they had to ride in someone else’s car.
The road home after dark was painful for everyone.
That was when it happened.
Buzz.
The Apple phone in Nicholas’s pocket vibrated for a long time.
It was a message from FreeChat, the messenger app he used every day.
Buzzzz.
At almost the same moment, the phone of the friend next to him also vibrated.
“What’s this at this hour?”
“I got something on FreeChat too.”
Shivering from the cold, Nicholas unconsciously opened the screen with trembling hands.
...What is this?
Nicholas showed his Apple phone to his friend and asked,
“Hey, hey. Dimitrov, did you get this too?”
“‘Ride Together’? Yeah, I got it too.”
If it had been any other advertisement, they would have cursed and said, “Why are they sending ads at this hour?”
But...
If it’s hard to get home...
For free...
There was nothing sweeter they could have heard at that moment.