The100: Uber’s research playbook, online delivery models and polyphonic ringtones

UberCool

Back in 2017, Uber had a problem. Passengers were so unhappy with UberPool that Uber deemed the service a strategic risk to their brand. A hop, skip and some seriously smart research later, Uber launched ExpressPool, which saw lower cancellations and less complaints. Slum dunk.

Daniel Kyne has shared how Uber’s research team helped them turn it around. 

“Amazon will certainly have its work cut out”

Following Amazon throwing their hat even further into the grocery delivery mix, Thomas Reiner has been digging into online grocery delivery models, competition and unit economics.

“No approach has a clear universal advantage; what works best often depends on the strengths and scale of the player. An aggregator like Instacart leans into scale and network effects (and now ads) to make an asset-light model profitable, whereas a giant retailer like Walmart leverages its physical footprint and accepts slimmer margins to defend its turf. One thing is certain: scale and efficiency are paramount.”

“Doing what they wouldn’t even think of doing”

Dave Trott has once again sent my grey matter fizzing. This time with a piece on creative thought and, using Jaguar’s focus on brakes to go faster as an example, doing things that others wouldn’t think of. Dave also included this belter of a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer:

“The man of talent is like a marksman who can hit a target no-one else can hit. The man of genius is like a marksman who can hit a target no one else can see.”

Lets do the crazy frog (ding ding)

Remember when ringtones were all the rage? As a kid, I couldn’t wait to finally get my own Nokia 3310 and be able to set the ringtone to a 30 second polyphonic version of “Don’t Cha” by The Pussycat Dolls. Nothing would make me cooler. 

However, despite being worth $1.2 billion in 2007, ringtone sales had all but disappeared by 2014. Daniel Parris has been looking into why:

“A more tangible explanation for the ringtone’s demise is the waning relevance of the phone call itself. Roughly 50% of modern cell owners set their devices to silent or vibrate, a habit fueled by a growing aversion to phone conversation. A 2023 YouGov survey found that texting is steadily replacing calls as a preferred mode of communication […] Yet the phone call’s creeping obsolescence is not universal. According to this same YouGov poll, India retains a strong preference for phone conversation, making it a notable outlier among all nations surveyed.”

And finally…

Jackson Goldstone’s POV from his winning run at the downhill mountain bike world champs. I had to check whether this had been sped up. Alas, it hasn’t. Holy tree trunks. 

Made using a moving light source and long exposure, Darren Pearson’s light paintings really are the cat’s pyjamas. And here I am struggling to draw a stickman.

Eminem’s Lose Yourself, but with each lyric taken from a movie. This might just usurp The Pussycat Dolls as my ringtone.

Bon weekend,

Fran