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Morethana decadeago,Amazon.com
Inc.startedlettingotherbusinessesrent
itscomputerhorsepowerbythehour
andstoredigitalfilesonAmazon’scom-
putinginfrastructure.Thissidehustleis
nowoneofthemostimportantinnova-
tionsoftheinternetage—anda highly
lucrativeone.AmazonWebServices,
orAWS,maynotbeaswidelyknownas
Amazon’sonlineshoppingmall.Butit
hasbecomeessentialplumbingforthe
technologyindustry,andit’sa keyingre-
dientinAmazon’sappealtoinvestors.
ThatbringsustoUberTechnologiesInc.Amazonbegan
AWSpartlybecauseit neededflexiblecomputerresources
foritsdigitalmallandfiguredothercompanieshadsimilar
needs.Uberhasspenta decadehoningtechnologyforits
ownneeds.CouldthatbetheseedforitsownAWS?
Ubersoftwarequicklymatchespeoplewhowanta ride
withdriversnearby,calculatespricesthatcanmotivate
driverstohittheroad,andplotsefficientroutes.Theseare
tasksmanycompaniesnowbuildforthemselves,whether
it’sAirbnbInc.connectinghomeownerswithpeoplelook-
ingforlodgingorInstacartmatchingcourierswithpeo-
pleaskingthemtodotheweeklygroceryshopping.Uber
couldmakeversionsofitsmapping,routing,matching,and
frauddetectionandpaymentstechnologyavailableforsale
tothosecompaniesandmanyothers.
Thisisn’tpurelya pie-in-the-skyidea.ThuanPham,
Uber’schieftechnologyofficer,saidata techconference
inearlyJulythatthecompanyimaginesonedayoffering
◼ LAST THING
With Bloomberg Opinion
By Shira Ovide
Uber Should Become the
Amazon of Routing
its technology to other businesses, com-
paring this to Uber’s twist on AWS. “We
don’t see why we can’t ultimately offer
that to other people,” he told attendees.
But he also stressed that Uber doesn’t
plan to pursue this idea anytime soon.
Copying AWS isn’t a trivial task, and
it might be unwise. Part of Uber’s advan-
tage is its technology foundation, and it
could undermine the company if it sold
its secret formula to others. Plus, AWS
had the advantage of just about every
business in the world requiring comput-
ing resources, whereas there’s naturally a smaller pool of
customers for supply-demand matching and routing soft-
ware. Still, it’s easy to imagine a half-measure that could be
feasible. Might transit agencies be willing to buy Uber’s map-
ping and dispatch technology?
One area where selling Uber software to other com-
panies could help is in the finance department. Software
tends to generate profits—lots of profits. Amazon Web
Services reports a profit (excluding some items) of about
29¢ for each dollar of revenue. Uber doesn’t have lots of
profits. On the same basis, it had a loss of 30¢ for each dol-
lar of revenue in the last 12 months.
Companies that sell technology to other companies are
also among the most beloved investments for stock buy-
ers. Meanwhile, Uber’s shares have dipped below the stock
price in the company’s May initial public offering, and as of
mid-July are lower still than Uber’s private stock sales in late
�Ovide is a tech columnist for Bloomberg Opinion