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Amazon Dash Button

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Re: Amazon Dash Button

#251

Post by whateveracct »

mikeash wrote: post #211
kristofferR wrote: post #144

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

I think it's ridiculous just because it clearly involved a lot of effort to solve a problem that doesn't really need solving. The choice isn't between a button and the massive hassle you describe. The choice is between a button and ordering the product on your smartphone in ten seconds, or picking up the product at the grocery store the next time you're there. How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks?…

> How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks? If this button saves you ten seconds each time, that's a total of 4.3 minutes per year saved

It takes more than 10 seconds to go to the store and get detergent. I suppose it'll save the 30 seconds it takes to order detergent on a phone, but the big gain is that it's RIGHT THERE so you can't forget to order it and then find yourself dead in the water and have to go to the store to get detergent instead of wait 2 days for amazon to deliver it.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#252

Post by ahallock »

dogma1138 wrote: post #159
kristofferR wrote: post #144

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

I'm pretty sure most Americans will give up amazon for free education, health care, paid maternity and paternity leave and the many other social benefits Norway provides to its nationals.

No thanks. I would like the freedom to choose where my money goes and not be forced by government or people lobbying government to allocate other people's hard-earned money to subsidize their preferences. Being able to withdraw money from something when it becomes corrupt, outdated, or inefficient is powerful. You don't have that power if government is taking your money by force. You are funding education even if the implementation is shitty, even if people are graduating with useless degrees.

In other words, you aren't entitled to people's money with no strings attached; you have to work for it. Using institutionalized violence to get what you want is lazy and immoral.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#253

Post by adventured »

mikeash wrote: post #211
kristofferR wrote: post #144

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

I think it's ridiculous just because it clearly involved a lot of effort to solve a problem that doesn't really need solving. The choice isn't between a button and the massive hassle you describe. The choice is between a button and ordering the product on your smartphone in ten seconds, or picking up the product at the grocery store the next time you're there. How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks?…

To take that further, Amazon will automatically re-order products for you if you tell them to on their site, via their subscription service.

There's an obvious reason Amazon is doing this: they're trying to continue to grow their share of the consumer's brain. When someone thinks about shopping, Amazon wants to be on the very short list of that thinking. So this button is a relatively inexpensive way to keep doing that. Get into someone's house, get into someone's mind, and try to show yourself as innovative.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#254

Post by exelius »

onion2k wrote: post #97
tonyhb wrote: post #15

It's not just a physical button — it's an API. If you develop a hardware product you can apparently integrate with Dash to order supplies from the embedded controller. Information is here: https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-replenishment-service Apparently, Whirlpool washing machines and Brita water filters will be using it. This doesn't help for basics like paper towels, but it would work for paper towel holders (if it'…

The IoT is here. Hardware is the easy bit in the whole IoT business model. The tricky bit will be persuading people that it's something they need. For this business model to work it has to solve a big enough problem that taking the time to sign up for something like this button, getting it delivered, setting it up, and actually remembering to press it when necessary is worth the effort. That's a challenging thing to…

This isn't a product for consumers, this is a product for CPG companies. As a result, I imagine a lot of the cost here will be covered by the companies making the products. If Amazon covers the logistics of everything (making the buttons, managing the APIs, stocking and delivering the products, managing payments) then P&G just pays to give you a "Tide" button.

CPGs will pay a LOT for this because it makes their brands "stickier". I can't tell you what brand of paper towels I normally buy, but if I always bought them through my "Bounty" button, I would always buy Bounty paper towels instead of whatever is on sale at the store.

I doubt this button connects to Wi-Fi directly - that's too much hassle (and too power-hungry). I wonder if Amazon has some sort of Zigbee-like controller embedded in the Amazon Echo that is set up to manage low-power devices like this.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#256

Post by gkya »

VonGuard wrote: post #209

I predict about 10 minutes before my asshole friends have ordered me 100 boxes of Tide by pushing this button about 100 times as a gag.

> my asshole friends have ordered me 100 boxes of [...]

Also my curious little-one, my playful and naughty cats, my ...

I believe that Amazon would place in some security features, like not processing the orders when they come in at a rate that is too frequent to be normal, require confirmation via email/SMS/etc. But then again, why make sth. like buying detergent which is as simple as going to the nearest market and giving them some change into a technological action that involves the postal service, an internet company, a bank, the internet, and electronics?

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#257

Post by cdmcmahon »

They say that the full API for this will be openly available in the fall. Am I correct in understanding that this means that I could make my own service to order things (for myself only) I'd like at the push of a button? Like could I set up my own button that buys something I like (regardless of whether the brand does anything with this? Or will only vendors be able to use this for their own products? (Maybe my scenario is already possible and I just don't know.)

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#258

Post by run4yourlives2 »

mathattack wrote: post #247
run4yourlives2 wrote: post #232

Linking yourself to a brand in this way completely removes any power you have as a consumer. I don't understand why people do it. And to be honest it seems more prevalent the younger you are. If you like a brand, you should really be doing a quick c/b analysis prior to making any purchase. Why? Because it changes often. A seller's entire goal in life is to extract maximum profit, so they tinker endlessly, with formul…

Here's why people do it... If you have something you like, it's frequently easier not to have to rethink the purchase decision every time. We have finite attention spans. We can spend it on price shopping staples, or programming, or being with our families. For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. They'd rather invest the ti…

It most certainly is "easier" to not negotiate to get the best value for your money. Businesses love taking your money, especially if you give them extra. Hell, I like it when my customers do this too.

>For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision.

I'll just put this here: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-30/consumer-deb...

I'm perfectly aware that people prefer not to actually think about their money. Hell, that's why credit cards are so popular. I'm saying though that whether they realize it or not, it is not in their best interests to value their few minutes of time over the money they have.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#259

Post by thecodemonkey »

I can't help thinking about the internals of this thing. Does it communicate via WiFi or Bluetooth? What about battery life time and manufacturing cost per unit? The form factor looks pretty slim.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#260

Post by wlesieutre »

moe wrote: post #129
iNate2000 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you'll have to set up your MyWhirlpool account on their website so that you can pair their app on your iPhone with your washing machine so you can search their incomplete list of detergent brands and add your second choice to your MyWhirlpoolBrandSelect Favorites List and then give up when Amazon seems to stop supporting that brand.

The MyWhirlpool website will also require the Silverlight plugin and you'll have to connect your washing machine with an USB cable in order to do anything. Every once in a while the button will just randomly stop working and you'll have to go through the motions again.

More like "You'll have to call a technician to replace the machine's motherboard for $1500 dollars because the machine won't start up at all if it can't get a response from the button."

Looking at you, printer/scanner combos that won't print because the scanner is failing.

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