Singapore, 10/5/18 (SOLUSSInews) – Gruber has finally happened.
As of midnight last night, Uber’s ride-hailing service was no longer available in Singapore. This has been anticipated, and delayed multiple times, since Uber agreed to merge its regional service with Grab’s in a mega-deal revealed in March.
Users in the city-state who open the app are now faced with a map devoid of available Uber hires, and a message advising them to download Grab’s app.
The US company’s controversial tenure in Southeast Asia did not end with a whimper. There was a brief hiccup yesterday morning, when it mistakenly switched off the app earlier than planned, before activating it until the end of the day in line with the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore’s earlier decision.
GrabFood expansion
According Tech ini Asia, one of the biggest plus-points of the deal for Grab is the acquisition of the regional arm of Uber’s food-delivery business, UberEats. As the US company exited the market yesterday, GrabFood went live in Malaysia and Singapore. The app is currently in beta phase, and is being rolled out in Singapore’s CBD initially.
Gaining a foothold in these countries’ on-demand delivery segments could prove vital for Grab. Go-Jek – which rules the roost in its native Indonesia when it comes to ride hailing, food delivery, and other on-demand services – is plotting its expansion into neighboring markets. It has indicated it could launch in Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines later this year. (S-TA/jr)
