When It Comes to China, Google’s Experience Still Says It All
&gt; As late as this past June, Uber was predicting it would pass its rival within a year.<p>This is simply &lt;del&gt;not true&lt;&#x2F;del&gt; (edit: not going to happen). I&#x27;m a fan of Uber, but using Uber is kinda like a exotic thing to do (while Didi is more common). Uber can be only used in major cities, on the other hand Didi can be used almost anywhere. Didi simply expand faster in China. (Uber is available in less than 20 Chinese cities while Didi appears in hundreds.)<p>Also I don&#x27;t view the merge of Uber China and Didi as a failure on Uber&#x27;s side. It&#x27;s more or less a peace treaty or truce (edit: between Uber <i>per se</i> and Didi, yes I know Uber China was merged). Uber-like service is simply too cheap in China for a long time, (I Uber to work for less than $2 for example), and both side cannot hold it any more. It&#x27;s as simple as that.<p>(Before the Didi-Uber merge, there&#x27;s a similar merge of Didi and it&#x27;s major competitor Kuaidi, thus the full name Didi-Kuaidi, in which both side are Chinese companies and it&#x27;s just that after long competition investors decided to facilitate a merge. This merge makes Uber the second largest, before that they were the 3rd.)<p>The story between Google and Baidu is a whole different one. First search engine as a gateway to informations is viewed as vital by the Chinese government and government really worked on Baidu&#x27;s side.