You might remember a recent post I had on Spotify releasing a "lite" version for Android. It looks like Uber is getting in on the action.
From an article on FastCompany:
Uber Lite seems designed to directly combat some of the problems that Uber has faced internationally by making the experience of booking a car easier for riders. By actually talking to its users, the company realized that in Android-dominated countries, which tend to be non-Western, many phones were not designed to run an app as large as Uber’s. In many of these places, internet networks and GPS aren’t as reliable. And less tech-savvy users were getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of text, which was harder to read outside on lower-quality screens.
Increasingly there are computers everywhere. They're not all $800+ computers. But in an era of micropayments and microsubscriptions, where thousands of split cents add up to real profits because duplicating apps is still all but free, making these smaller, low-bandwidth apps that appeal to emerging markets is obviously a smart idea.