This person has made the common mistake of thinking "Uber for x" means "an app for finding x on a map."

OP: the innovation of Uber has nothing to do with their car-finder app. It has to do with the fact that they've figured out a way to compete with a huge established business that historically has required huge capital expenditures to build a fleet of cars, and they've done it by tapping a massively underutilized and very cheap resource: other people's idle cars. This is precisely why taxi companies can't respond just by building a great app for hailing a taxi.

No fault there?

Since when do you load up the Uber app just to see what cars are around you? Going window shopping for rides to nowhere? At best it's "Living Social" without the discounts.