- New stores:
- US: Entertainment Collectibles, 50+
Active and Healthy Living, Art, AmazonSmile (dedicated store where portion of purchase price goes to charity) - Canada: Beauty, Health & Personal Care,
- Delivery:
- Physical:
- opening several large fulfillment centers across the US (1 in NJ, 2 in Cal, 3 in Texas, 2 in Florida, 1 in Maryland, 1 in Wisconsin, 1 in Connecticut, 1 in Poland)
- AmazonFresh (grocery delivery) trial in the US; expands to San Francisco
- plans Prime Air (aerial 30 minute delivery by drone)
- pop-up stores in malls
- Sunday delivery in selected cities for Prime members
- Combining physical and digital delivery:
- AutoRip (free MP3 versions of CDs and LPs bought from Amazon)
- Kindle MatchBook (low-cost Kindle editions of books bought on Amazon)
- Payments:
- launches 1c shipping for wine in the US (direct-to-consumer)
- credit card patent
- expands Amazon Coins to UK, Germany
- Amazon Coins can now be gifted
- Fire tablets can now be paid in installments
- Membership, subscriptions:
- Prime adds 1m subs in 3rd week of December
- Print:
- licensing deals with Valiant
- own imprints (Jet City Comics, Kindle Singles Interview, StoryFront)
- Day One (weekly digital magazine, 20 $/yr)
- Streaming music:
- Cloud Player for Ford cars; and for BMW and Mini
- for iPad
- Streaming video:
- content deals for Prime Instant Video members (A+E, PBS, CBS, FX, Scripps, MGM, NBCUniversal, Viacom, Disney, Warner Bros, Oceanhouse, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, A24)
- distribution deals (Nintendo Wii); Lovefilm for Xbox One
- original content production
- launches Prime Instant Video in Japan
- all original content to be shot in 4K from 2014
- launches Storybuilder (digital notecards and virtual corkboard for writers)
- Games:
- licensing deals with EA
- Devices (Kindle):
- Paperwhite (gen 6 r-reader)
- Fire HD and Fire HDX (tablets).
- OS: Fire OS 3.0 (Mojito); Fire OS 3.1 for tablets
- Other:
- Amazon Coins (virtual currency for apps, games, in-app purchases)
- Login with Amazon (single sign-in)
- Amazon Storyteller (turns script into storyboard)
- Second screen: X-Ray for Movies (based on IMDb)
- Kindle Worlds (UGC based on licensed characters and stories)
- Mayday Button (free live, on-device tech support for Kindle Fire users)
- Login and Pay with Amazon (for partners sites)
- Amazon Source (wholesale for book stores)
- Amazon Web Services (AWS):
- many developer services
- launches WorkSpaces (virtual desktop)
- expands to China
- Acquisitions:
- IVONA Software
- Goodreads (books social net)
- TenMarks (web-based math programs)
- Liquavista (screen tech)
- Evi (speech recognition)
- GoPago (partly: tech and team only)
The unsurprising conclusions:
- Innovation at break-neck speed. For physical and digital goods: print, music, video and games. Focus is on e-books and streaming video. So, expect more streaming audio (music subscription) and games?
- Infrastructure provider for its own but also wholesale (developers, 3rd-party sellers).
- Growing list of services and subscription-based services, many around Amazon Prime. On last count, there were 215 mln active Amazon customers and 10 mln Prime subs.
- Devices are limited now, possible additions: smartphone (project Smith), STB (code name Cinnamon), gaming console, etc.
- Expansion focuses on existing markets (Canada, Australia, Mexico). When will a new market be added?
- More acquisitions coming?
- Streaming audio service?
- Intel's connected STB unit Intel Media?
- Non-US e-commerce company?
