Parks Associates analyst Tejas Mehta agrees the bad press won't change much unless Lyft and Sidecar add more investors and find a new way to stand out.
"Lyft has been competing with Uber on pricing, which is not sustainable in the long run," Mehta said. "Uber's recent troubles may not dramatically tilt the balance, but if Lyft can gain some market share as a result, it may just be the opening that levels the playing field a little."
Launched last year, Flywheel so far operates in three cities -- San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. San Francisco was its first market where it's took the city by storm. It partnered with the majority of San Francisco's taxi companies and more than 80 percent of the city's cabs now use the app.
"San Francisco is what I call a lab for us," Mathur said. "The most critical part is to get enough supply line."
"Flywheel is banking on the fact that partnering with the regu ...read more
The Lightning Motorcycle isn't the first high-performance electric drive vehicle either. Tesla got its start outfitting Lotus Elise sports cars with specialized electric motors. And much like Tesla helping change people's perceptions about cars, Lightning could do the same for motorcycles, analysts say.
"It upends the prevailing wisdom that going electric sacrifices performance," Parks Associates analyst Jennifer Kent said. "Lightning Motorcycles has proved that electric mot ...read more
Roku, however, often refers to research that indicates its boxes are used more than rivals' if they're not sold more than them. Roku noted an study conducted on its that behalf by researcher NPD that found Roku accounted for 37 million hours of video streamed per week, versus Apple TV's 15 million, Chromecast's 12 million, and Amazon Fire TV's at 6 million hours. A recent Parks Associates also found Roku is used more regularly than rivals like Apple TV.
The flood of new competitors in the streaming-media device race -- joining stalwarts Roku and Apple TV have been the $35 Chromecast from Google and the high-end Fire TV box from Amazon -- underscores the opportunity companies see in tapping the rise in demand to watch streaming video. Though Roku as a company is smaller than those rivals, its devices stand out because of elements like its massive catalog of channels.
Roku's system is approaching 2,000 channels and adds about ...read more
Apple TV has been adding more content lately as the company has had to fight a handful of competitors -- including Roku, Amazon, and Google -- in the streaming-media device market. Spurring interest in video-streaming is more content migrating to the Internet, with companies including Netflix and Amazon developing more original online content.
Last year, nearly half of all purchases of set-top boxes by US households were for Roku devices, while Apple TV was a distant second, ...read more
The Chromecast wasn't the first wireless streaming-media dongle to come along -- Roku had one long before -- but the $35 price and the initial offer of three months of free Netflix sparked a flurry of interest. The Netflix promotion sold out in four hours on Amazon and 24 hours on Google Play, and the Chromecast itself was out of stock online within two days. Even now, the Chromecast remains on top of Amazon's electronics best-seller list.
In US households last year, nearly half of all purchases of set-top boxes -- small electronic devices that stream online video and music on your TV -- were Rokus, and Roku devices continue to show the greatest usage among people who stream media to their TVs, according to a report from researcher Parks Associates Wednesday.
Apple TV was a distant second in both categories, and the gap between Roku and Apple TV is widening.
Streaming-media devices have grown in prevalence ...read more