
Bye-Bye Taxis: Uber Hits 2 Billion Rides -- Tech Roundup
Uber continues its run at world domination, this time announcing that just last month it hit 2 billion rides so far. Details announced by CEO Travis Kalanick revealed that it happened precisely at 9:16 p.m. PT on June 17.
Where was the record-setting trip? That's not so easy to pin down. From Kalanick's announcement via Facebook:
"In that single second a month ago, 147 Uber rides started-tying for our two billionth trip.These trips happened in 16 countries on five continents, from Costa Rica to Russia and from China to Australia. The longest of the bunch lasted more than an hour as the rider and driver worked their way across Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. The shortest, a POOL trip in Changsha, China, lasted just three minutes."
In a cool twist, Uber is actually giving each rider and driver who participated in the two billionth ride $450. If that number sounds familiar it's because the ride-hailing service provider operates in 450 cities globally.
Also, if you are having a feeling of deja vu it may be because just six months ago the company announced its one billionth trip.
Obviously it takes time to grow, but it's still impressive that it took the company only six months to amass its second billion trip after taking six and a half years to do it the first time.
Pokemon Go has now reached 26 countries, sending shares of Nintendo (NTDOY) even higher. The company has tacked on some $17 billion -- yeah, with a B -- in market cap since the game was released earlier this month.
While $17 billion is nothing but a sneeze for a company such as Apple (AAPL) - Get Report , it's something of significance for a game maker that sported a market cap of $17.5 billion just days ago. Shares are up 111% over the past month; it now supports a market cap of $37.8 billion.
Anyway, back to the game. Pokemon Go, which was available in the U.S., U.K., Germany, New Zealand and Australia last week has spread into most of Europe and Canada.
However, the game's overwhelming popularity has attracted a few bad apples -- and no, not just the gun-wielding thieves picking on innocent Pokemon trainers in Missouri. New Pokemon-based apps are popping up that promise cheat codes and tips but are actually packed with malware. They were available in the Google Play store but have since been removed after being identified.
It's just the latest unfolding for a game aiming for some 200 countries. Looks like we've got a ways to go before the Pokemon Go craze subsides.
Nintendo's American shares closed at $37.22 Monday, up 11.5%.
The new Xbox One S is poised to hit shelves on Aug. 2 -- that is, assuming retailers have any left for anxiously waiting customers.
Demand remains high for the new decked-out console. Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report , which owns Xbox, said customers' pre-orders should be arriving on the same date.
So what's so different about this one? For starters, the new Xbox One S is white, not black, and sports up to 2TB of data. The standard Xbox One came equipped with 500MB of data, with the option to upgrade to 1TB. As if double the storage wasn't enticing enough, the new console supports 4K Ultra HD graphics and is 40% smaller thanks to a built-in power supply.
So what's that going to set you back, like a thousand bucks? Nah, actually try just $399. Not too shabby, especially if you've been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the price to get cheaper.
Then again, if you've waited this long without buying an Xbox One or Playstation 4, you're probably not buying the new console next month. Some maybe, but not most.
Shares of Microsoft closed at $53.96 Monday, up a fraction of a percentage point.
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.









