How 3D Touch Will Get You An Uber Faster

How many clicks does it take to book a car with Uber or a cleaner with Handy? How many screens do you see before you “connect” to the service? It depends on what service you’re booking, but the obvious answer is more than one screen. A goal of these service marketplaces is to reduce the time it takes to complete the core transaction (even if it’s just seconds) because they are commoditized. If Uber reduces the time to book by a few seconds, they further reduce search and transaction costs, increase network effects, and increase the number of platforms transactions. Put simply, the goal of a commoditized service marketplace is to complete the “connect” step of the core transaction in 1 step–this is the promise of Apple’s 3D Touch.

Apple unveiled 3D touch as an important feature of the iPhone 6s to “peek” and “pop” at information. The real potential for commoditized service marketplaces though is Apple’s Quick Actions which enables a user to press down on a homescreen icon to launch specific actions within the app.

Apple showed how easily you could call a contact on your iPhone, just by pressing hard on the app icon and then tapping on the name in a new menu that pops up. The menu goes away once you release your finger. While most integrations of Apple’s 3D Touch have been for traditional apps, the key with 3D Touch integrations is that there are a limited number of factors which the consumer uses for making a decision.

For instance, it would not make sense for Airbnb to use 3D Touch to enable consumers to book a room because the process of booking a room is non-commoditized; there are many factors–rating, home size, amenities, rooms, pets, cleaning, etc.–which the consumer must take into consideration before purchase. To reduce those decisions to just 1 step decreases Airbnb’s value proposition to its users.

However, the only factors that a consumer cares about when ordering an Uber is to get the quickest pickup, at the cheapest price, with the shortest ride duration. The producer or driver only cares about maximizing their earnings. In this case you could imagine a scenario where Uber let you request a car with 3D Touch. Uber could even show your fare estimate, pickup time and ride duration in the 3D touch pop-up.

In order to compete with Apple’s 3D Touch, Google has built Google Now on Tap into its upcoming Android M release. While the purpose of Google Now on Tap is to provide contextual information based on your current screen, the intention is to reduce the amount of steps required to connect to information. While Google Now on Tap is not yet open to developers like Apple’s 3D Touch, it very well could serve a similar purpose for commoditized service marketplaces.

While these integrations are technologically feasible, there are developer limitations in place by Apple. However, the synergy between Apple’s 3D Touch and commoditized service marketplaces is strong. We’ll soon see large platform players push the limits of 3D touch to save a few seconds on their core transaction.

Filed under: Platform Innovation | Topics: platform innovation, platforms