Uber Accelerates In Europe As Incumbent Powers Stamp Their Feet

As many European countries see protests of scale against the popular, and controversial-to-some, ride-share service Uber, the company is seeing massive interest in its offerings. Media coverage of the strike indicated that Uber wasn’t being punished in the least: Instead, demand was spiking, and Uber launched a fresh service in the London market.

What’s causing that? Likely a combination of general interest (“What the heck is being protested?”) and convenience (“If the cab drivers aren’t driving, I’ll just get an Uber.”).

AppFigures, an app store ranking tool, put together a pleasant graph that illustrates the rise of Uber on the iOS App Store over the past few days. It’s quite telegenic: Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.11.33 PM It looks a bit too neat, or rounded, for my taste, so let’s dig up some App Annie charts to get an hourly breakdown of what we’re looking at. The UK (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.14.40 PM Spain (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.15.44 PM France (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.16.29 PM Italy (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.17.39 PM Germany (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.18.13 PM Holland (seven-day, hourly chart): Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 3.19.12 PMFrom the above, we can see conclusively that Uber is having a damn fine time in Europe, precisely when the incumbent forces that are opposed to it are lining up for battle.

Consumers are voting with their feet. I’m not sure what the participating cab drivers were looking to get our of their strike, but helping Uber grow likely wasn’t it.

PHOTO CREDIT: DAN GRECH