Amazon’s Echo Chamber • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#31

Post by IBM » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:36 AM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #25

hkarthik wrote: post #7

Scathing and harsh, but probably pretty accurate. > No one makes money selling media for consumption anymore. That market is quickly and brutally dying. The media market is now so efficient that all profit is completely sucked out of the equation by the time you get to the consumption delivery system, to the point that it is barely possible to break even. This part resonated with me a lot. The media market was always…

No one makes money selling media for consumption anymore. This is a common belief among people in tech. It is also disastrously false. Frozen has sold 1.2 billion dollars worth of tickets. The related IP alone, to say nothing of merchandising, will be sold for decades to come, and bring in additional billions. You know the DVD, a dead format that can be trivially pirated? Yeah, they sold 3.2 million copies of Frozen.…

The author is talking about Amazon's share in those profits. It's clear that people who own the IP make a lot of money in media content.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#32

Post by Crito » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:39 AM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #21

danhak wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Netflix is not a delivery network?

They don't really want to be anymore, which is why they're spending so much money on original programming.

Even HBO pads out their scheduling with content produced by other companies. I do not see a future where the bulk of Netflix's streamed content is produced by Netflix.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#33

Post by moeedm » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:40 AM UTC

Spot on.

A lot of people have recommended a Kindle to me but I've held off. I can't get past the massive Amazon logo on it and the awful page turn.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#34

Post by waterlesscloud » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:41 AM UTC

cwilson wrote: post #11

schwabacher wrote: post #8

Echo seems really smart to me - the reason Amazon is in hardware is because they are terrified of 'ok google, order me lighbulbs', or 'hey siri, i need a new pair of socks' becoming the way people shop for things online. Amazon made Echo for 'alexa, order me wheat thins', and all the question answering and music playing is just window dressing.

I really don't think being terrified of competition is a good reason to create something, so I hope that's not why they are doing this. I'm struggling to find a reason why ordering anything via Echo is a good idea. I wouldn't use Siri to order anything, so I'm not sure why I'd want to do this either. I like to research things before I buy them and so do most Amazon users (even if it's a quick glimpse at the overall r…

Amazon pretty clearly has a mid-range strategy of being the place you order groceries and consumables as a first choice. Weaseling into your household with Echo is a likely part of that. No research needed when you're ordering the same Wheat Thins and toothpaste you've ordered a dozen times before.

I also think the drones are for this small, frequently ordered stuff.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#35

Post by rhino369 » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:42 AM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #25

hkarthik wrote: post #7

Scathing and harsh, but probably pretty accurate. > No one makes money selling media for consumption anymore. That market is quickly and brutally dying. The media market is now so efficient that all profit is completely sucked out of the equation by the time you get to the consumption delivery system, to the point that it is barely possible to break even. This part resonated with me a lot. The media market was always…

No one makes money selling media for consumption anymore. This is a common belief among people in tech. It is also disastrously false. Frozen has sold 1.2 billion dollars worth of tickets. The related IP alone, to say nothing of merchandising, will be sold for decades to come, and bring in additional billions. You know the DVD, a dead format that can be trivially pirated? Yeah, they sold 3.2 million copies of Frozen.…

The author doesn't mean media isn't profitable, but media retail isn't profitable.

The author is somewhat right. It's only profitable when you have a walled garden that you control, so you can squeeze markup out of the supplier.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#36

Post by mgkimsal » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:42 AM UTC

cwilson wrote: post #11

schwabacher wrote: post #8

Echo seems really smart to me - the reason Amazon is in hardware is because they are terrified of 'ok google, order me lighbulbs', or 'hey siri, i need a new pair of socks' becoming the way people shop for things online. Amazon made Echo for 'alexa, order me wheat thins', and all the question answering and music playing is just window dressing.

I really don't think being terrified of competition is a good reason to create something, so I hope that's not why they are doing this. I'm struggling to find a reason why ordering anything via Echo is a good idea. I wouldn't use Siri to order anything, so I'm not sure why I'd want to do this either. I like to research things before I buy them and so do most Amazon users (even if it's a quick glimpse at the overall r…

"I'm struggling to find a reason why ordering anything via Echo is a good idea"

I agree.

But reordering things...

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#37

Post by cyanbane » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:42 AM UTC

Great read and I agree with the majority of it.

This stood out though:

>Amazon’s retail strategy of being allergic to profit does not translate well into hardware manufacturing.

Don't most gaming consoles sell at a loss? The pickup for the console maker is on the publishing rights & distribution channels and the fact they take a gamble that the hardware will get cheaper over the course of that hardware generation. I had always though that it what Amazon was trying to emulate with their hardware attempts.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#38

Post by waterlesscloud » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:43 AM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #21

danhak wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Netflix is not a delivery network?

They don't really want to be anymore, which is why they're spending so much money on original programming.

Amazon is also at least nominally getting into entertainment production, though so far they're doing a pretty clumsy job of it.

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#39

Post by girvo » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:43 AM UTC

IBM wrote: post #31

patio11 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one makes money selling media for consumption anymore. This is a common belief among people in tech. It is also disastrously false. Frozen has sold 1.2 billion dollars worth of tickets. The related IP alone, to say nothing of merchandising, will be sold for decades to come, and bring in additional billions. You know the DVD, a dead format that can be trivially pirated? Yeah, they sold 3.2 million copies of Frozen.…

The author is talking about Amazon's share in those profits. It's clear that people who own the IP make a lot of money in media content.

Which is exactly why Netflix for example is moving into content production. Does amazon do the same?

Re: Amazon’s Echo Chamber

#40

Post by prawn » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 2:44 AM UTC

rajivtiru wrote: post #4

So you only used this title to piggy-back off the announcement of the actual Amazon Echo? And you don't even mention it in the blog post. Nice. Edit: It appears the title has been changed. Sorry for the asshole tone above, but I don't like clickbait.

The article can reference a product without talking about it specifically. I think that's what the author was trying to do.