I think one of the biggest points being missed here is that Uber may very well be an iceberg. Meaning moving people is literally just the tip, but to get to the rest you have to subsidize the hell out of moving people.<p>The fundamental problem with what Benjamin pointed out with the lack of benefits with network effects, only applies when you are thinking about moving people and only thinking about 1 singular network. Sure, you and I may only want to go from point A to B within my city.<p>I think the real value for Uber is when they have this huge network of constant activity between most points within any city/country, the value proposition to carry cargo goes through the roof.<p>Imagine being able to send a document (or a package) anywhere else within the city in 20 minutes.<p>Amazon is experimenting with Drones for quick delivery, but just imagine being able to purchase something on Amazon, Walmart, Target, and get it within 30 minutes from an Uber driver.<p>Their network effect looks different than most others, say Facebook, because the real value is a network effect of networks. i.e. they have highly concentrated networks within cities, and they have a high concentration of city-networks within states, and outward.<p>The clear value proposition there is one can easily move a package from your house through your network within your city, to another network in an adjacent city, and on and on to say the next state.<p>Right now, sure you can ship something 'overnight' via FedEx relatively long distances within the US but technically it's not REALLY overnight. Technically, you have to reach the FedEx store before some cut off time (say 12 noon), so that package can then be taken to their sorting facility and make it out on the flight that night.<p>Imagine if there is the a real-time network where at any moment any package can be placed on the network and be on the most efficient route to the destination immediately. That's obviously the holy grail, but no longer do you have packages sitting in sorting facilities and waiting on bulky planes to take off.<p>They may not have these plans, but I have no inside knowledge and that's one clear advantage I can see of having a network where something is always being delivered between almost any 2 points within the network.<p>I assume that all of these investors are not dumb and neither is Kalanick and his team, so I suspect there is a much larger logistics play than we can imagine.<p>Just like Tesla isn't just a car company, but is also both a commercial power (Southern California Edison) & oil company (Exxon) plus maybe an autonomous delivery fleet all in one, I assume Uber is something similar we just can't see it yet.