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Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

seattletimes.com

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Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#21

Post by sah2ed »

homero wrote: post #8
gargarplex wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

It's always astounded me how a technology change can kill a company overnight. Google almost died with searches going mobile but somehow bought Android and survived but killed BlackBerry. Now voice search is a risk.

That's a bit revisionist.

Google saw a tiny but steady rise in mobile searches and realized they needed to become mobile focused. They acquired a startup called Danger Inc. which brought in Andy Rubin who helped birth their Android efforts.

Rubin saw just how good the iPhone was then threw out their work to start from scratch [1] before they eventually put out their first device: the Android G1. Steve Jobs was furious at the similarities with the iPhone because he had gotten firm promises Google would not copy the iPhone in their phone efforts. Eventually, Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board when it was clear both companies would be competing head on in mobile.

[1] https://amp.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-on-android-founde...

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#22

Post by mcny »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #19
gargarplex wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

Surveys show that Alexa is being used for basic Siri 1.0 searches ("What's the weather","Play x on Pandora", timers, alarms, novelty questions) and little else. Few people have activated a skill or ordered something. A graphical user interface is going to be a vastly richer and more useful interactive experience for a very long time.

> Few people have activated a skill or ordered something.

As far as I know, I cannot enable a skill on my echo dot itself. I have to do it through the app. This is friction that I don't need to tell you is bad for engagement. I wager Amazon's first mover advantage is very much over stated.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#23

Post by Grazester »

sah2ed wrote: post #18
gargarplex wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice search is already huge and I imagine it may be even bigger. I see Amazon as a threat to Google in this area.

> Amazon as a threat to Google in this area. LOL. That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market. You probably meant: "Google is a threat to Amazon in this area" because Amazon invented and still dominates the smart speaker category. In other words, Google didn't know a market existed for such devices until Amazon created a m…

Amazon might have been the first to launch a dedicated device that can do voice search but Google was doing it(on Android) before such a device was launched by amazon.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#24

Post by Slansitartop »

taurath wrote: post #12
randomfool wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that most groups outside of Alexa and AWS are in a hiring freeze and they are trying to cut down on the amount of middle-management across the board.

Can confirm, the recruiter spam I get is now only Alexa and AWS - the retail section has all but stopped.

That's pretty terrible because their retail site still needs a lot of work. Sort by stars has always been broken and the problems with counterfeit products and fake reviews needs to be dealt with.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#25

Post by akhilcacharya »

mcny wrote: post #22
saturdaysaint wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surveys show that Alexa is being used for basic Siri 1.0 searches ("What's the weather","Play x on Pandora", timers, alarms, novelty questions) and little else. Few people have activated a skill or ordered something. A graphical user interface is going to be a vastly richer and more useful interactive experience for a very long time.

> Few people have activated a skill or ordered something. As far as I know, I cannot enable a skill on my echo dot itself. I have to do it through the app. This is friction that I don't need to tell you is bad for engagement. I wager Amazon's first mover advantage is very much over stated.

If you know the exact skill, you can just say “Enable Jeopardy skill”.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#26

Post by leggomylibro »

walrus01 wrote: post #17
Animats wrote: post #9

So why do they want a second corporate headquarters?

They have very nearly exhausted the pool of strong technical talent that can be recruited locally within the seattle area, who are not already gainfully employed at some other tech company. Also because building new office campus space in Seattle is becoming a bottleneck. Amazon is spread out through a bunch of temporarily leased buildings until the new towers are finished. Also they have sort of exhausted the number…

Also, a lot of the people who were willing to relocate to Seattle are reluctant to stay after years of worsening ostracization and seething resentment.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#27

Post by sah2ed »

Grazester wrote: post #23
sah2ed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon as a threat to Google in this area. LOL. That is like saying Apple (iPhones) are a threat to Google (Android) when it was Apple that first brought touch-based smartphones to market. You probably meant: "Google is a threat to Amazon in this area" because Amazon invented and still dominates the smart speaker category. In other words, Google didn't know a market existed for such devices until Amazon created a m…

Amazon might have been the first to launch a dedicated device that can do voice search but Google was doing it(on Android) before such a device was launched by amazon.

Right, but were their efforts successful? That's the main difference here, bringing a new product to market successfully.

Long before voice assistants/search became a thing with smart phones there was Google 411 ... which no one remembers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOG-411

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#28

Post by Grazester »

sah2ed wrote: post #21
homero wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always astounded me how a technology change can kill a company overnight. Google almost died with searches going mobile but somehow bought Android and survived but killed BlackBerry. Now voice search is a risk.

That's a bit revisionist. Google saw a tiny but steady rise in mobile searches and realized they needed to become mobile focused. They acquired a startup called Danger Inc. which brought in Andy Rubin who helped birth their Android efforts. Rubin saw just how good the iPhone was then threw out their work to start from scratch [1] before they eventually put out their first device: the Android G1. Steve Jobs was furiou…

Google did not buy Danger. They bought Android which was started by ex Danger founder Andy Rubin. Microsoft bought Danger and released an awful device after doing so. I had to add that last bit.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#29

Post by sah2ed »

Grazester wrote: post #28
sah2ed wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit revisionist. Google saw a tiny but steady rise in mobile searches and realized they needed to become mobile focused. They acquired a startup called Danger Inc. which brought in Andy Rubin who helped birth their Android efforts. Rubin saw just how good the iPhone was then threw out their work to start from scratch [1] before they eventually put out their first device: the Android G1. Steve Jobs was furiou…

Google did not buy Danger. They bought Android which was started by ex Danger founder Andy Rubin. Microsoft bought Danger and released an awful device after doing so. I had to add that last bit.

On that bit of history, I stand corrected.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Re: Amazon laying off corporate employees in rare cutback

#30

Post by ArchReaper »

sah2ed wrote: post #27
Grazester wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon might have been the first to launch a dedicated device that can do voice search but Google was doing it(on Android) before such a device was launched by amazon.

Right, but were their efforts successful? That's the main difference here, bringing a new product to market successfully . Long before voice assistants/search became a thing with smart phones there was Google 411 ... which no one remembers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOG-411

Yes, they had been successful with voice search long before Alexa ever came out, and continue to do it well. Google is THE search giant, you'd have to be acting intentionally obtuse to not understand his point.
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