You called it!
Amazon Will Be a Three Trillion Dollar Company (AMZN)
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You called it!
For post-purchase, Amazon stopped doing partial refunds for price drops a couple weeks ago. Might still work for TVs
http://www.recode.net/2016/5/23/11746112/amazon-price-drop-adjustment-refunds
On a side note:
Anyone in the IT field know anything about AWS (Amazon Web Services)
How much possible future job grow is in cloud computing?
Just curious what others on BGOL think
Kayanation?
just to close this off, my other thread has the AWS cert stuff
and Alexa shits all over Siri. Viv (by Siri's founders) looks cool though... at least in the controlled environment they debuted it in.
Apple has done the unthinkable.
Apple is working on its own competitor to the Amazon Echo to give consumers a Siri-powered speaker for the home, according to a report from The Information today. Not only that, but Apple is also reportedly opening Siri up to third-party apps so developers can finally tap into the voice assistant. The report states that an Echo rival is a more longterm project, while creating and releasing a Siri software development kit is more likely to happen first. In fact, the Siri SDK could arrive as early as June during Apple's annual WWDC conference. While some third-party companies have gained access to Siri, such as Yelp, they've only done so by way of specially crafted deals with Apple. A SDK would let any developer utilize Apple's voice assistant.
The Siri speaker has been in development since long before the arrival of the Echo, the report states. Some confirmed features include the ability to turn on and off any appliance supported by Apple's HomeKit platform and perform some of the tasks now associated with automated bots. Like Facebook's M assistant and other bots whose creators are being courted by the social network, the reimagined Siri would be more helpful and less restrained to core Apple features like setting alarms and sending texts. It would also be beneficial for more than just phones and home speakers as Apple is likely to announce Siri for the Mac this year as well.
APPLE NEEDS SIRI TO BE OPEN IF IT'S TO STAY COMPETITIVE IN THE HOME
The news comes as the smart home market becomes increasingly intertwined with cloud services and artificial intelligence-powered products. Amazon is leading the charge with its Alexa assistant and the Echo. And Google last week announced its own AI assistantand home speaker; the assistant is called Google Assistant, while the speaker is Google Home, naturally. Apple has one strategic advantage: Siri is multilingual, while Alexa remains confined to the English-speaking US.
Still, Amazon has succeeded in the home in part because it openly lets Alexa connect to third-party apps and services, for hailing Uber rides, playing games, and performing all sorts of other tasks Amazon can't accomplish on its own. Google hasn't announced a similar SDK for the Home, but may do so later this year.
The takeaway: these speakers with AI software are useless unless developers can help them do much more than their creators are capable of. The new Google Assistant can answer follow-up questions, and it can also perform more complex tasks than Siri or Alexa. Right now, Siri tends to kick those types of queries to Microsoft's Bing. For Apple to stay competitive in this space — and make up the substantial ground its ceded to its rivals — it has to make Siri more open and more powerful. From there, the company can try to bake it into a speaker customers may want to place in their living rooms.
That had to be done if they wanted Siri to survive.
That shit is NOT going to be welcomed here
You know Amazon is going to lobby hard to the FAA to open up the skies for drones. They're building more warehouses and distro centers so when their deal with USPS expires, they'll handle shipping themselves. And best believe they want to be able to offer same day delivery thru drones.
Amazon is going to have some competition with their AWS. Google or Alphabet is now focused on that sector. Good for the consumer. Will drive the price down.
Amazon has a deal with USPS now after that UPS fiasco a few years back. They have recently started doing their own deliveries. I think it's only a matter of time before they do it themselves.
And yeah… Uber will definitely be a delivery service. They're flipping their original business model every which way.
Amazon ain't playing bro...
http://www.bgol.us/forum/index.php?...ness-to-take-on-alibaba-fedex-and-ups.907312/
i used to fuck with ebay/half.com heavy back in the day. But started fucking with amazon. Because they had alot of ps2 games and accesories that was cheaper and shipped faster. I only something from ebay if there is something really outdated. And real obscure.
Rumor of Amazon buying American Apparel.
This could be huge.
This could be huge.
Yea I saw something about them going bankrupt, so I can see how Amazon would want to get in on that.
They need to at least get a tracking system up and running.
Amazon's rumored bid for American Apparel could solve its Trump problem in one master stroke
Amazon is reported to be in the running to acquire American Apparel's bankrupt business.
The rumored deal immediately raised speculation about Amazon's growing ambitions in the fashion business.
But an acquisition of the struggling clothing retailer could also solve one of Amazon's biggest ongoing problems: tension with President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump, who frequently criticized Amazon during his campaign, won his way to the White House in large part by promising to keep manufacturing jobs in the US. He has already taken credit for keeping thousands of jobs from moving overseas at companies including Carrier in Indiana.
American Apparel, best known for its "Made in the USA" slogan, says it's the largest clothing manufacturer in North America. With 4,500 workers employed, it also calls itself the "largest sewing facility in North America."
So by acquiring American Apparel, Amazon could save thousands of US manufacturing jobs and win Trump's support.
With the starting price to buy part of American Apparel currently at $66 million, according to Reuters, Amazon could score a big win by spending a relative pittance (Amazon had roughly $12 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of the most recent quarter).
Of course, there are a lot of unknowns in Amazon's reported bid, and it's unclear whether Amazon even wants to buy American Apparel's manufacturing facilities. The only official bid, from the Canadian clothing brand Gildan, just includes the rights to American Apparel's brand, with an option to buy its manufacturing operations and inventory. Gildan's bid doesn't include American Apparel's 110 retail stores, according to Reuters.
Also, Amazon may have to convince shareholders of the logic behind acquiring a failing apparel business that has hundreds of million dollars in debt. With Amazon reportedly accelerating its investments in other areas, like logistics and grocery stores, investors may not welcome the idea of taking on American Apparel's mounting losses.
But if Amazon could somehow pull off a deal for all of American Apparel's factories and retail stores, there are a lot of other potential business benefits to go along with the political and public-relations benefits, especially given that Amazon is forecast to pass Macy's as the top US apparel seller in 2017. Some of them include:
- Increased brick-and-mortar presence: Amazon has been introducing private-label brands over the past year. Having a physical space to showcase its product could significantly increase its sales and brand awareness.
- More channels to promote Prime: Amazon has already made its bookstores pretty much Prime-exclusive, making it another channel to promote Prime's many benefits. Also, one of its private-label brands, Buttoned Down, is available only to Prime members. American Apparel's retail network could help Amazon promote Prime in other parts of the US.
- Solves the biggest structural flaws of online apparel sales: Most people still want to try on clothes before buying them online. They also like to return to a physical store. Ownership of American Apparel stores would solve both problems.
This certainly makes for a very interesting play in Amazon's growing ambition in fashion retail. But it could also very well just be one of the many speculations involving Amazon. In 2015, for example, Amazon was reported to be in the running for Radio Shack, which turned out to be just a rumor.
Amazon is reported to be in the running to acquire American Apparel's bankrupt business.
The rumored deal immediately raised speculation about Amazon's growing ambitions in the fashion business.
But an acquisition of the struggling clothing retailer could also solve one of Amazon's biggest ongoing problems: tension with President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump, who frequently criticized Amazon during his campaign, won his way to the White House in large part by promising to keep manufacturing jobs in the US. He has already taken credit for keeping thousands of jobs from moving overseas at companies including Carrier in Indiana.
American Apparel, best known for its "Made in the USA" slogan, says it's the largest clothing manufacturer in North America. With 4,500 workers employed, it also calls itself the "largest sewing facility in North America."
So by acquiring American Apparel, Amazon could save thousands of US manufacturing jobs and win Trump's support.
With the starting price to buy part of American Apparel currently at $66 million, according to Reuters, Amazon could score a big win by spending a relative pittance (Amazon had roughly $12 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of the most recent quarter).
Of course, there are a lot of unknowns in Amazon's reported bid, and it's unclear whether Amazon even wants to buy American Apparel's manufacturing facilities. The only official bid, from the Canadian clothing brand Gildan, just includes the rights to American Apparel's brand, with an option to buy its manufacturing operations and inventory. Gildan's bid doesn't include American Apparel's 110 retail stores, according to Reuters.
Also, Amazon may have to convince shareholders of the logic behind acquiring a failing apparel business that has hundreds of million dollars in debt. With Amazon reportedly accelerating its investments in other areas, like logistics and grocery stores, investors may not welcome the idea of taking on American Apparel's mounting losses.
But if Amazon could somehow pull off a deal for all of American Apparel's factories and retail stores, there are a lot of other potential business benefits to go along with the political and public-relations benefits, especially given that Amazon is forecast to pass Macy's as the top US apparel seller in 2017. Some of them include:
- Increased brick-and-mortar presence: Amazon has been introducing private-label brands over the past year. Having a physical space to showcase its product could significantly increase its sales and brand awareness.
- More channels to promote Prime: Amazon has already made its bookstores pretty much Prime-exclusive, making it another channel to promote Prime's many benefits. Also, one of its private-label brands, Buttoned Down, is available only to Prime members. American Apparel's retail network could help Amazon promote Prime in other parts of the US.
- Solves the biggest structural flaws of online apparel sales: Most people still want to try on clothes before buying them online. They also like to return to a physical store. Ownership of American Apparel stores would solve both problems.
This certainly makes for a very interesting play in Amazon's growing ambition in fashion retail. But it could also very well just be one of the many speculations involving Amazon. In 2015, for example, Amazon was reported to be in the running for Radio Shack, which turned out to be just a rumor.
