It's not possible to talk about Israel's taxi hailing app Gett without mentioning its great rival Uber. The US company already operates food delivery services from selected restaurants in Los Angeles and Barcelona and will also launch the service in New York and Chicago. In Israel Uber delivered hummus on Independence Day.
Regarding competition between the two companies Gett CEO Shahar Waiser said, "Uber has failed in Israel. It may be number one in the US and is doing exceptional work there but everywhere else it is number two. The situation in Israel shows that. In China it has a 2% market share compared with 98% for local players, in Latin America and India, it simply doesn't exist. Even when you are large and raising a lot of money, it is still not simple to expand."
Waiser added that this was one of the things that distinguished Gett from Uber. "We are focusing on the largest markets rather than expanding everywhere. We have 10 million users that already like us and we want to give them more things. That's the strategy."
Uber said in response to Waiser's claims about its operations in Israel. "We wish Mr. Shahar Waiser great success with his expansion plans. Meanwhile, Uber continues to be committed to lowering transport prices, strengthening market efficiency and the safety of passengers in Israel and the other 55 countries and 300 cities in which we operate worldwide. In every place there is competition, the consumer ultimately wins and that is good news for the Israeli public that seeks cheaper, safer and more available ways to move around.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 28, 2015
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