被滴滴收购后，优步中国正走向安乐死

全世界各个地区、各个国家的优步APP界面和功能都一样。而如今，中国的优步APP却与其他地区都不同。

收购优步的中国区业务三个月后，收购方滴滴出行表示，新版优步APP将于下个月上线，该新版APP不支持英文版本，不能使用国外发行的信用卡，且在中国以外地区也无法使用。换言之，该打车应用就像这个国家的互联网一样：与外界隔绝。

尽管滴滴与优步中国达成交易时是围绕“合并”进行谈判的，但事实是滴滴收购了优步。滴滴作为收购方，完全有权改变其品牌，甚至将其纳入自己麾下。但收购之时，滴滴表示，优步将保持“品牌和运营独立性”，且“乘客将继续获得稳定服务”。新版APP虽与早先声明相违背，却是由多方面因素导致的。

在世界范围内，中国打车应用公司之间的竞争都是相当激烈的。为吸引司机和乘客而提供的补贴和折扣让优步一年亏损约10亿美元（滴滴亏损更大）。在此情况下，两家公司应对双方8月1日达成的交易感到满意：优步停止了在中国的“放血”行为，而滴滴则收购了第二大土豪竞争对手。

优步中国一直以来独立于优步全球运营。然而，滴滴收购该公司后，不得不重新处理优步中国与优步全球总部之间的法定权利和知识产权交易。例如，在中国境内使用国外发行的信用卡进行支付的系统，是优步全球与其支付合作伙伴共同建立的。

滴滴放眼全球寻求发展，也愿意接受国外发行的信用卡。但其中的法定权利需进行调整，并重新修订。公司表示，两个月的时间不足以完成所有“跨境法律事务和知识产权协调。”今天，滴滴宣布在中国推出新版APP，并将于明年年初将推出另一版APP，将一些功能添加回去。同时，滴滴将于今年年底将优步中国从收购前的60个城市推广至400个城市。

然而，优步中国的日子并不好过。本月初，优步中国负责人辞职。用户抱怨使用优步APP的司机减少了，因此需要等待比以前多三倍到四倍的时间才能打到车。同时，司机也抱怨用户变少了。一位名为彭飞（音）的北京司机昨日说，“与之前大不相同了。”由于补贴额度和乘客数量均下降了，他的收入也比前几个月逊色不少。似乎网络效应的对立面正在侵蚀优步在中国的地位。

两年前，滴滴和快的合并时也发生了类似的情况，滴滴很快打破了保持快的以“独立实体”运营的承诺。

尽管优步中国可能于明年推出新版APP，但到那时，它或许没那么重要了。（财富中文网）

译者：司慧杰/汪皓

Everywhere in the world, from country to country, Uber’s app looks and works the same. Everywhere now except China.

Three months after Uber’s China division was acquired by Didi Chuxing, the conqueror said Uber’s new app, out next month, wouldn’t include English, wouldn’t accept foreign credit cards, and wouldn’t be usable outside of China. In other words, ridesharing is beginning to look a lot like China’s Internet: walled off from the rest of the world.

For all the ‘merger’ talk around the time of its deal with Uber China, Didi Chuxing did in fact acquire Uber China. As the acquirer, it has every right to change the brand, or even subsume it into its own. But at the time of the acquisition, it said Uber would keep “independent branding and business operations” for the “continuity of service for passengers.”The new app version contradicts its earlier statements. But there are reasonable explanations why.

The competition between ridesharing companies was among the world’s fiercest in China, where Uber was estimated to be losing $1 billion a year (and Didi even more) because of subsidies and discounts to gain drivers and users. In this environment, both companies had reason to be happy with their Aug. 1 deal: Uber stopped the bloodletting in China, and Didi took over the deep-pocketed No. 2 player in its market.

Uber China always operated as a separate entity fromUber’s international parent. Still, when Didi inherited the company, it had to rework the legal rights and intellectual property deals Uber China had with international Uber. Foreign credit card payments inside China, for instance, were set up with Uber global’s payment partners.

Didi’s ambitions today extend outside China, and it wants to accept foreign credit cards. But those legal rights need to be restructured and redrafted. Two months hasn’t been enough time to handle the “cross-border legal and intellectual property rights coordination,” according to the company.Today, Didi says the new Uber app launching in China will be followed by another early next year, one with some features added back in. In the meantime, Didi is expanding Uber China into 400 cities by the end of this year, up from 60 before it was acquired.

Still, Uber China’s days look numbered. Earlier this month, the head of Uber China resigned. Users now complain about wait times three to four times longer because of fewer drivers using the system. Drivers, meanwhile, complain about fewer users. “It’s not the same as before,” one Beijing driver named Peng Fei said yesterday. He’s making far less money than a few months ago because of fewer subsidies and riders. It seems the opposite of the network effect is eroding Uber’s relevance in China.

The same thing happened two years ago when rivals Didi and Kuaidi Dache merged in China, and promises of keeping “independent entities” were soon broken.

While another Uber China app version may roll out next year, by then it might not matter much.