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I really don't understand Amazon's strategy here at all. Every large company goes through this stage where they switch from actively building their business to

by cletus 12y ago

I really don't understand Amazon's strategy here at all. Every large company goes through this stage where they switch from actively building their business to essentially being afraid that something will come along and kill them. It happened to Microsoft in the 90s (although, in fairness, the Internet did almost kill them). It's happened to Google (Google Offers anyone?). And it sure as hell looks like it's happening (big time) to Amazon. Amazon is really good at two things: - selling you stuff - oddly enough, cloud services. Several years ago they, for whatever reason, embarked on a strategy of wanting to be in online content and mobile platforms. Amazon Prime was (and is) a hugely popular service. Yet it's been bundled with Prime Instant Video, essentially a Netflix clone. Why Amazon felt this was necessary or even a good idea is beyond me. As soon as you force bundle one service with the other it makes the latter worse and hides the deficiencies of the former. Good products and services sell themselves at a certain point. If Amazon Instant Video was really great, why can't I buy just that? Why make Prime more expensive? Amazon is creating room for a comeptitor here. And then we get to the Fire tablets, phones and now media sticks. Amazon decided to treat Google as a competitor here so none of their devices come with the Google apps. This is a curious move because Amazon obviously sees itself as a competitor and rival to Apple, Google and Microsoft here. Why exactly? If you're going to be in the phone business and competing with someone, do you really want to be beholden to the platform that company produces (ie Android)? Sure they can fork it (and have) but you know they'll be taking updates too. I really have to wonder if Bezos has gone all Howard Hughes lately. He seems to feel this strategy is deeply important yet, as best as I can tell, these products are mediocre at best and no one has really articulated why this is important to the future of Amazon. Disclaimer: I work for Google. These opinions are purely my own.

vidarh 12y ago
Have you tried an Amazon Fire TV box? Then it'd be instantly clear why they are doing this. Prime Instant Video has enough of a selection - split between a decent-but-not-comprehensive selection of the most recent releases, and a huge back-catalog of older movies (I spend half an hour or so just marvelling at the selection of 70's Kung Fu movies and 50's through 70's sci fi B-movies). BUT, when you fire up the Fire TV, you are "assaulted" by a home screen that, while they are not at all shy about pushing the Prime Instant Videos at prime spots in the interface, is full of movies, games and apps you have to pay for, all nicely intermingled with free content. It took my son about 5 minutes to talk me into spending 5 pounds on the first game. It also provides instant access to any music in my Amazon account, giving me one more reason to consider putting my music there. In other words: This is a sales channel with massive potential. I'm expecting it'll become possible to buy music directly soon enough too - it'd be silly not to (though Amazons MP3 app is curiously not yet compatible with the Fire TV). And why not the full shopping app? It's also a sales channel they need to address, because Amazon is a size where letting someone else win that market would be a substantial risk to their own sales: Streaming will eventually eat their DVD sales, and continue to eat their music sales and others. Online content and mobile platforms is not at all so strange for Amazon when you consider that what they are really good at is selling lots of cheap things at minimal margins while shaving logistics costs to the bone. Selling bits of data is the ultimate target for that, and mobile platforms (and the Fire TV) is to Amazon as it is to Google: A way of increasing the amount of time users spends engaging with their products and services. > these products are mediocre at best I've not used the Fire tablet or phone, but the Fire TV is fantastic, and the box itself looks and feels amazing. The only thing preventing the Fire TV from being "Apple level" design quality is that they've crowded the interface too much (it's great to use, but too busy for Apple's design sensibilities). Frankly, I'd have expected a light, cheap plastic-y box.
- MisterBastahrd 12y ago
  This is exactly why I avoid their peripherals. If I'm already paying for Prime, I want to watch Prime movies. I don't want to wade through a bunch of crap just to get to the content I've already paid for.

by cletus 12y ago

vidarh 12y ago

Have you tried an Amazon Fire TV box? Then it'd be instantly clear why they are doing this. Prime Instant Video has enough of a selection - split between a decent-but-not-comprehensive selection of the most recent releases, and a huge back-catalog of older movies (I spend half an hour or so just marvelling at the selection of 70's Kung Fu movies and 50's through 70's sci fi B-movies). BUT, when you fire up the Fire TV, you are "assaulted" by a home screen that, while they are not at all shy about pushing the Prime Instant Videos at prime spots in the interface, is full of movies, games and apps you have to pay for, all nicely intermingled with free content. It took my son about 5 minutes to talk me into spending 5 pounds on the first game. It also provides instant access to any music in my Amazon account, giving me one more reason to consider putting my music there. In other words: This is a sales channel with massive potential. I'm expecting it'll become possible to buy music directly soon enough too - it'd be silly not to (though Amazons MP3 app is curiously not yet compatible with the Fire TV). And why not the full shopping app? It's also a sales channel they need to address, because Amazon is a size where letting someone else win that market would be a substantial risk to their own sales: Streaming will eventually eat their DVD sales, and continue to eat their music sales and others. Online content and mobile platforms is not at all so strange for Amazon when you consider that what they are really good at is selling lots of cheap things at minimal margins while shaving logistics costs to the bone. Selling bits of data is the ultimate target for that, and mobile platforms (and the Fire TV) is to Amazon as it is to Google: A way of increasing the amount of time users spends engaging with their products and services. > these products are mediocre at best I've not used the Fire tablet or phone, but the Fire TV is fantastic, and the box itself looks and feels amazing. The only thing preventing the Fire TV from being "Apple level" design quality is that they've crowded the interface too much (it's great to use, but too busy for Apple's design sensibilities). Frankly, I'd have expected a light, cheap plastic-y box.

MisterBastahrd 12y ago
This is exactly why I avoid their peripherals. If I'm already paying for Prime, I want to watch Prime movies. I don't want to wade through a bunch of crap just to get to the content I've already paid for.