Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Google recently announced that, with its most recent update to Google Maps, the company is adding to the app new ride hailing service providers across five countries. These providers are in addition to its global ride service partner Uber. Users of Google Maps will now be able to use the app to hail 99 Taxis in Brazil, Ola Cabs in India, and Gett in the UK, as well as Hailo in the UK and Spain, an mytaxi in Germany and Spain. Uber was integrated with Google Maps in 2014. We believe that, by extending this integration to other players who are Uber’s competitors in certain geographies, Google is looking to make its Maps app as a one-stop transportation solution for users. While Google is currently providing this service free to ride hailing companies, we believe this can open up another revenue stream for Google in future and increase user engagement with Google Maps.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/1UDJySL
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