CCTV9英语新闻：数十亿美元注入计程车呼叫程序的战斗（在线收听）

Starting this January, China’s market in taxi hailing apps has become a battlefield between two mobile apps, Didi and Kuaidi.

The competition between the two apps is backed by two of China’s largest internet companies, Tencent and Alibaba. Both apps launched similar subsidy programs, from which passengers and drivers can receive 10 to 15 Yuan, or around two dollars, when they use the apps and finish the transactions through e-payment. By the end of Q1 this year, Didi has poured in 1.4 billion Yuan on subsidies. Its total customer base has reached 100 million, and daily usage has reached 5.2 million successful orders, with 178 cities covered. Meanwhile, although Kuaidi did not disclose its total user numbers, the app’s daily usage has reached 6.2 million, and it covers 261 cities. Through the competition, the two taxi calling apps have dominated 90% of China’s market. Even after most of the subsidies were cut this month, a quarter of the consumers have continued to use those apps.