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Isn't the elephant in the Amazon boardroom that AWS essentially pays for any mischief they can do with their retail arm? i.e. Sell an equivalent item at a loss

Isn't the elephant in the Amazon boardroom that AWS essentially pays for any mischief they can do with their retail arm? i.e. Sell an equivalent item at a loss for an extended period of time to force a competitor / retailer out of business? Opening up a physical bookstore after essentially crushing that market felt like a "finger" to ex-businesses to me.

jrockway 6y ago
I don't see the problem. It's Amazon's money; they are entitled to spend it however they want. I think a lot of people are mad at Amazon for various things; undercutting mom-and-pop businesses in niche markets, paying people to deliver packages almost for free, busting warehouse unions, counterfeit items, etc. The solution is to not fund Amazon. Move your servers elsewhere. Shop at Target. Ask your representatives to make stronger labor laws. But all in all, I don't think it's intrinsically wrong to start selling an internal tool and then end up making a lot of money from it. If Amazon weren't dominating online retail, someone else would be. Nobody wants to go to a store. It's boring and there isn't a very good selection. That is not the fault of cloud computing.
- ac29 6y ago
  > I don't see the problem. It's Amazon's money; they are entitled to spend it however they want. If they actually were selling products at a loss to put competitors out of business, that would be considered predatory pricing. Imagine Apple using their iPhone profits to sell MacBooks for $200 - it would distort the market and eliminate competition. It might be good for consumers in the short run, but much worse when they were the only game left in town.
  - gundmc 6y ago
    They basically did this with diapers.com a decade ago. https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-be...
  - Aperocky 6y ago
    Manufacturing laptop is not something that has a big barrier of entry, So apple would just eat its own loss forever or watch competition spring back the moment they can't take that loss anymore.
- gibybo 6y ago
  >Ask your representatives to make stronger labor laws. Lawmakers don't do things when one person asks, they need significant public pressure. Publicly showing displeasure with how a company operates is usually the first step for that.
- raz32dust 6y ago
  This is like saying that you should not make moral judgements on a person as long as they are not breaking any law. A person could be doing completely legal things and still be a complete asshole. A lot of people being mad is what eventually leads to laws.

jrockway 6y ago

I don't see the problem. It's Amazon's money; they are entitled to spend it however they want. I think a lot of people are mad at Amazon for various things; undercutting mom-and-pop businesses in niche markets, paying people to deliver packages almost for free, busting warehouse unions, counterfeit items, etc. The solution is to not fund Amazon. Move your servers elsewhere. Shop at Target. Ask your representatives to make stronger labor laws. But all in all, I don't think it's intrinsically wrong to start selling an internal tool and then end up making a lot of money from it. If Amazon weren't dominating online retail, someone else would be. Nobody wants to go to a store. It's boring and there isn't a very good selection. That is not the fault of cloud computing.

ac29 6y ago
> I don't see the problem. It's Amazon's money; they are entitled to spend it however they want. If they actually were selling products at a loss to put competitors out of business, that would be considered predatory pricing. Imagine Apple using their iPhone profits to sell MacBooks for $200 - it would distort the market and eliminate competition. It might be good for consumers in the short run, but much worse when they were the only game left in town.
- gundmc 6y ago
  They basically did this with diapers.com a decade ago. https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-be...
- Aperocky 6y ago
  Manufacturing laptop is not something that has a big barrier of entry, So apple would just eat its own loss forever or watch competition spring back the moment they can't take that loss anymore.
gibybo 6y ago
>Ask your representatives to make stronger labor laws. Lawmakers don't do things when one person asks, they need significant public pressure. Publicly showing displeasure with how a company operates is usually the first step for that.
raz32dust 6y ago
This is like saying that you should not make moral judgements on a person as long as they are not breaking any law. A person could be doing completely legal things and still be a complete asshole. A lot of people being mad is what eventually leads to laws.