Meituan Taxi Service Gives it Another Go on App Stores Amid Didi Investigation
Tech618 reported Saturday that the Meituan Taxi app, which had been taken down from online stores two years previously, has now been relaunched.
Didi, a Chinese online taxi-hailing giant, has been subject to security scrutiny due to various user privacy issues. After more than 20 of Didi’s apps were removed from online stores, the firm has been temporarily unable to provide on-demand travel and other services for incoming users. Competing firms across the wider market, which has been largely dominated by Didi in recent years, have now jumped to capitalize on this opportunity.
Meituan Taxi, which was withdrawn from various app stores in May 2019, has been quietly relaunched on major online malls recently. For example, Meituan released the 2.0 version of its ride-hailing platform to Apple’s app store two days ago. According to the software record, the last update could date back to two years ago. Meituan Taxi has launched a brand-new logo featuring yellow and black colors.
The first thing that pops up after launching the updated Meituan Taxi app is a service agreement and privacy policy, in which the first three articles specifically highlight various privacy issues. It is clear that Meituan is attempting to avoid running into such issues that are of great concern to users.
At present, Meituan‘s taxi service is operating in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing and a few other cities across China. In addition to the Meituan Taxi app, users can also access the firm’s taxi services built into the Meituan application, including Meituan Express and cars from other platforms such as Sunshine Travel, Shouqi Car and Cao Cao Travel.
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It is worth noting that since July 8th, many users in Beijing have received notices from Meituan Taxi inviting them to try it out, marking the first time that Meituan has launched a taxi service in Beijing. These details reveal that Meituan hopes to absorb some users amid the fallout from Didi Chuxing’s abrupt removal from online shelves. The firm has begun to engage in a range of promotional activities and publicity at this stage, so as to increase its share of the online ride-hailing market.
In addition to Meituan accelerating its taxi business, other competing platforms such as Gaode Taxi, T3 and Yaochuxing, have now begun to place extensive advertisements on a range of widely-visited platforms including Tik Tok, WeChat and Kuaishou, after the Didi app was removed. The firms aim to promote their own brands and attract users, as well as seizing this window of opportunity to hire drivers and R&D operators through recruitment websites.
Didi Chuxing, one of the most popular taxi-hailing services in China’s mainland, has recently been taken down from online app stores. On July 9th, the Network Information Office released an announcement stating that 25 applications produced by Beijing Xiaoju Technology, including Didi Business Edition and Didi Shunfeng, were all removed.
