Amazon

[CityFarmer]

A big move by the company...

Amazon snaps up live video startup Twitch for $970 million

SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc snapped up live-streaming gaming network Twitch Interactive for about $970 million in cash, reflecting Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos' resolve to transform Amazon into an Internet destination beyond its core retail operations.

The move, announced by the two companies on Monday, is the largest deal in Amazon's 20-year history and will help the U.S. e-commerce company vie with Apple Inc and Google Inc in the fast-growing world of online gaming, which accounts for more than 75 percent of all mobile app sales.

The acquisition involves some retention agreements that push the deal over $1 billion, a source close to the deal told Reuters.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/amaz...ion-source

[brattzz]

live-streaming gaming network, for buying/selling game hours and distributing games and live-broast cast!

[CityFarmer]

Interesting one from Amazon...

Amazon.com to open first physical store: report
10 Oct 2014 06:28
San Francisco

Online retail colossus Amazon.com plans to open its first brick-and-mortar store in New York ahead of the year-end holiday season, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The shop will be located across from the famed Empire State Building and act as more of a tangible link to customers than a place for browsing, according to the report.

Amazon's Manhattan venue would serve as a warehouse where customers could arrange quick deliveries or pick up products ordered online, as well as tend to returns or exchanges of items they have purchased, the Journal reported.
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- AFP

Source: Business Times Breaking News

[CityFarmer]

Amazon's Fire phone has "no-fight" with Samsung and Apple's phones

Amazon took $170 million charge in Q3 on phone inventory, supplier costs

SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc took a $170 million writedown in the third-quarter largely related to its unsold stockpile of Fire smart phones as well as supplier commitment costs, Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak said on Thursday.

The online retailer, which also issued a disappointing fourth-quarter outlook that sent shares down 9 percent in after-hours trading, ended the third quarter with about $83 million worth of Fire phone inventory.

The Fire phone debuted this summer to both lackluster sales and reviews. Last month, Amazon cut the price of its phone to 99 cents with a two-year contract with AT&T. REUTERS
http://www.todayonline.com/business/amaz...lier-costs

[CityFarmer]

Amazon is busy with its preparation for upcoming competition. Reliable and cheap logistics network and infra, seems critical to win...

Amazon tries out taxi deliveries in California cities: WSJ
06 Nov 2014 06:48
[SAN FRANCISCO] Amazon.com Inc is testing deliveries via taxis in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to the Wall Street Journal, as the Internet retailer explores alternative modes of delivery to speed up shipments while restraining cost.

Amazon is using the taxi-hailing mobile app, Flywheel, to ship parcels via licensed cabs, studying the feasibility of using taxi fleets more broadly as a delivery avenue, the Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying.

The e-commerce company, stung by shipping delays last Christmas blamed on services such as UPS and Fedex , has been exploring various options from regional couriers to its own delivery vehicles.

In its latest test, Amazon summoned cabs through Flywheel to distribution centers, from where they picked up as many as 10 packages bound for the same location at about US$5 per package, the Journal reported.

The deliveries usually took place early in the morning, when taxi traffic was low and the competition unlikely to notice, the paper cited the people as saying.

REUTERS

Source: Business Times Breaking News

[CityFarmer]

Latest update on Amazon expansion...

Amazon looks to extend lead in cloud computing for businesses

LAS VEGAS — Most people know about Amazon’s ambitions to sell you everything from books, movies and smartphones to power tools and auto parts.

Less understood outside the technology industry is just how aggressively the company is also trying to become an important technology provider to other organisations, its aspirations as big as those of Microsoft, IBM and Google.

Amazon Web Services already provides so-called cloud computing services at low prices for customers, including the United States Central Intelligence Agency and Netflix.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/amazon-l...businesses

[CityFarmer]

Amazon’s new robot army is ready to ship

TRACY (California) — A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to “pick” each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now, the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers’ legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

“We pick two to three times faster than we used to,” Mr Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon’s massive distribution centre in Tracy, California, about 97km east of San Francisco. “It’s made the job a lot easier.”
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/amaz...ready-ship

[CityFarmer]

Amazon is getting impatient amid the competition...

Amazon warns it may shift more of its drone testing outside US

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com told United States regulators that it has begun testing deliveries by unmanned aircraft, or drones, in other countries and will divert more research abroad if the government does not let it conduct such tests locally.

In a Dec 7 letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Amazon, the largest Internet retailer, urged the agency to quickly grant the company permission to test drones outside of laboratories in the Washington state.

The company proposes to fly the drones on private property in a rural area, supervised by trained pilots, said the letter, which was a response to questions from the FAA.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/amazon-w...outside-us

[CityFarmer]

Amazon's strategy of retaining its users. I am starting to doubt the business model of Amazon, and profitability...??

Amazon purchases GoodGame to expand video-game business

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com deepened its foray into video games by purchasing GoodGame, a company that owns teams of video-game players and hosts live gaming tournaments.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal follows Amazon’s announcement in August that it had agreed to pay US$970 million (S$1.27 billion) to buy Twitch Interactive, an online forum that lets users watch others while they play.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has made video games a focus as the online retailer adds entertainment services. Amazon is boosting its TV programming available to members of its Prime fast-shipping scheme. The firm also operates a game studio in Seattle and has been trying to get software developers to build more video-game titles for its Fire TV set-top boxes, Fire phones and Kindle Fire tablets.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/amazon-p...e-business

[opmi]

^^ if u notice, teens do watch replays of online games. It is almost lIke ESPN.