R&D, PR, and not paying taxes. The weird ideas don't really have to work out for Amazon at least for now. There is also internal knowledge and data being cultiv

R&D, PR, and not paying taxes. The weird ideas don't really have to work out for Amazon at least for now. There is also internal knowledge and data being cultivated related to these 'flops.' As someone suggested (can't recall who), sometimes a company like Apple starts developing something internally so when they do an acquisition they have a pretty good idea on the model and have an existing team to integrate with. Unlike Apple, Amazon is choosing to put these stories in the news.