Scooter Rentals Give Glimpse of the Future

Ariel Ariel
8/27/21

This is a single insight from This Week in Apps #76 - Reaching New Highs. Check out the full article for more insights.


It's no secret that I like me some scooters, and looking at the numbers, I'm not the only one! Downloads of Lime and Bird, the two most popular scooter rental services in the U.S. have reached new post-pandemic highs this summer.

Combined, the pair was downloaded more than 288K times in the U.S. last week and a similar number the week prior. In the same week last year, downloads were roughly a half at 147K for the pair, based on our estimates. That figure represents the peak downloads for the summer of 2020, and 2021 is still continuing to grow.

The trend here is much larger than just scooters. As big cities settle into a post-lockdown lifestyle, many pre-pandemic habits and routines will change and morph, and if what we saw over the last year continues, many of these new habits and routines will involve a mobile phone in some capacity—be it ordering a ride, unlocking a scooter, talking to a therapist, exercising, and I can go on for a while but you get the idea.

In a way, the gold rush of apps is making a comeback. It's very different than what we saw in 2008/2009, and considering how mature the industry is, the kind of silliness that made headlines back then won't this time around, but the opportunities are there and bigger than ever before.

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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.


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