I've been fascinated by the idea of surge pricing, since Uber introduced the concept to me. I'm not interested in it because of what it will do for my business, I'm interested because of what it will do for / to business. Also I'm concerned what this will do the layers of our society who can't afford, and aren't able to keep up with this algorithmic meritocracy we are assembling.
While listening to my podcasts the other day, I learned that Gogo Inflight wifi also uses surge pricing, which is why some flights are more expensive than others. I long suspected they used some sort of algorithm for figuring out their pricing, because some flights I'm spending $10.00 for the flight, and others I m paying $30.00. Obviously they are in search the sweet spot, to make the most money off business travelers looking to get their fix.
Algorithmic transparency is something I'm very interested in, and something I feel APIs have a huge role to play in helping us make sense of just exactly how companies are structuring their cost structures. This is right up my alley, and something I will add to my monitoring, searching for stories that mention surge pricing, and startups who wield this publicly as part of their strategy, as well as those who work to keep it a secret.
This is where my research starts going beyond just APIs, but it is also an area I hope to influence with some API way of thinking. We'll see where it all goes, hopefully by tuning in early, I can help steer some thinking when it comes to businesses approaching surge pricing (or not).
