????你需要搭車嗎？現在不用徘徊十字路口招手了，只要掏出智能手機，輕觸幾下，租車公司Uber簡潔而具有未來主義風格的公司標識就會跳出來。它是一個襯線體U字母，靜靜地懸浮在黑色背景前面。注冊只需要幾秒鐘。一旦你提供了基本聯系方式和信用卡信息，就會跳出一張谷歌（Google）地圖，顯示出你所在的地點及周邊環境。在屏幕上選定上車地點后，就可以等著看車型圖標一點點向這個點靠近。幾分鐘后，就會有一輛黑色轎車來到上車地點，駕車者喊著你的名字招呼你，還提供免費的小食和瓶裝水。抵達目的地后，車費將從你的信用卡自動扣除。不用找一堆零錢，也不用把薄薄的收據亂塞一氣。只要打開車門，下車離開即可。

????成立已有三年的Uber已經在紐約、巴黎和華盛頓等8個大城市推出，試圖帶來全新的出租車體驗。駕車者并非受雇于Uber，只是從Uber分得部分車資。這項生意收入可觀，多的時候每天可進賬超過500美元。要知道，普通出租車司機得花一周才能賺到這么多。車資會考慮時間、距離等常規因素，還要考慮（根據Uber開發的算法）計算的需求。Uber的服務器會對大量信息進行分析，包括哪里的乘客需要用車，他們可能希望去哪里，甚至還會考慮到附近影響交通的大型活動等等。比如，巨人棒球隊（Giants）在舊金山的比賽結束后，可能就會有好幾輛Uber車停在附近。

????站在Uber背后的人是特拉維斯?卡蘭尼克，這家公司的聯合創始人兼首席執行官。除了此前創業經歷帶來的幾分滄桑，卡蘭尼克看上去并不像35歲的人。他說：“我們想說的是，聯邦快遞（FedEx）也要隔天才能送達，而Uber五分鐘就能送達。只是這個‘包裹’是一輛轎車，它可以帶你去任何想去的地方?！笨ㄌm尼克喜歡在語句停頓間露出笑容，一談到工作，他的語調中就洋溢著滿滿的自信?！白畛踹@是一家生活類服務公司。按下一個按鈕，一輛黑車就會出現。誰安排的車？他安排的黑車8分鐘內就能抵達，簡直太神速了。”

????但卡蘭尼克的辦公室遠算不上豪華。Uber的舊金山總部簡樸到乏善可陳。卡蘭尼克的桌子是在一間拐角的小辦公室里，用透明墻隔斷，墻上涂寫了一些看上去很復雜的等式。認識卡蘭尼克的人們都說他干勁十足，有時可能有點不講道理，但絕不像一些成功的企業家那樣刻薄。很難量化卡蘭尼克追逐的市場究竟價值幾何，盡管該公司自己估計僅美國就有幾十億美元的商機。迄今為止，Uber已提供了幾十萬次乘車服務。更加值得一提的是，Uber用戶月均用車支出超過100美元——相比大多數應用軟件帶來的微薄銷售額，這個數據令人瞠目。該公司已從社交游戲公司Bezos Expeditions、高盛（Goldman Sachs）等投資者那里獲得了超過5,000萬美元的融資。

????You need a ride. Instead of lingering at the intersection flailing your hand in the air, you fish out your smartphone. A few taps later, Uber's slick, futuristic logo appears, a seriffed "U" hovering over a stark black background. Signing up takes a few seconds. Once you provide basic contact and credit card information, a Google map pops up displaying your nearby surroundings. You select a spot on the screen to set a rendezvous and watch as a car-shaped icon inches toward it. When a black sedan pulls up a few minutes later, the driver welcomes you by name and offers free snacks and bottled water. At your destination, the fare is automatically charged to your card. No fumbling with wadded cash. No flimsy receipts to stash. You simply hop out and go.

????In eight major cities, including New York, Paris, and Washington D.C., three-year-old startup Uber is trying to remake the cab experience. Drivers aren't employed by Uber, but get a cut of each fare instead. The arrangement can be lucrative, bringing in upwards of $500 a day, a sum some cab drivers only make after a week's work. Rates take into account the typical factors of time and distance but -- through an Uber-developed algorithm -- also demand. Uber's servers crunch information about where riders are requesting cars, where they're likely to want to go, even traffic-distorting big events nearby. When a Giants in San Francisco game lets out, several Uber cars are likely close-by.

????The man behind Uber is Travis Kalanick. The company's co-founder and CEO doesn't look 35 save for some salt and pepper, a souvenir from a previous venture. "What we like to say is FedEx delivers packages tomorrow, but Uber delivers packages in five minutes. It just so happens that that 'package' is a towncar that takes you wherever you want to go," he says. Kalanick has a tendency to punctuate his sentences with a big grin and, when he is talking about work, his speech is electrified by cocky self-confidence. "In the beginning, it was a lifestyle company. You push a button and a black car comes up. Who's the baller? It was a baller move to get a black car to arrive in 8 minutes."

????Kalanick's office is anything but plush, however. Uber's San Francisco headquarters is spartan to the point of being nondescript. Kalanick holds court in a small corner conference room with a transparent wall. Complex-looking equations are scrawled across the glass. Those who know Kalanick describe him as hard-charging, sometimes awkward, but not prone to the meanness of some successful entrepreneurs. It's hard to quantify how much the market Kalanick is going after is really worth, though the company estimates it is a multi-billion dollar opportunity in the United States. Uber has provided hundreds of thousands of rides so far. More significantly, Uber users are spending over $100 a month on average on the service -- an astonishing figure compared to the minuscule purchases most apps encourage. The company has raised more than $50 million in funding so far from backers that include Bezos Expeditions and Goldman Sachs (GS).