181–190 of 262 posts
So assumedly this will work in a store also? Could I go 'grocery shopping' at Whole Foods and end up having everything shipped to me by Amazon for cheaper? Can easily see this evolving into an Amazon price comparison tool for mobile use. Maybe I get a flash discount if the GPS has me standing in a Best Buy already.
A lot of people already kind of do this. They go to a shop, find the items they like and look up on the web if they can get a cheaper price by ordering online.
This version of the product might not be so practical for this use case though since it requires a WiFi connection and can probably only scan AmazonFresh barcodes.
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This totally reminded me of CueCat. Despite CueCat being free, it was commonly sold on ebay because it made the cheapest barcode scanner on market. Amazon dash will end up being similarly awesome for hobbiest to hack on.
it's free (with a $299/yr amazon fresh account). that's very much not the same thing as free.
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The $299 annual fee does give some sticker shock, but annualized that's only about $6 per week (more like $4-5 if you already have a regular Prime membership and deduct that existing cost). Especially if you're shopping for 2 or more, that comes out to a pretty small tax on your regular grocery bill.
$299 + $100 for Prime, actually. We use Amazon Fresh in Seattle for all of our groceries. There's no membership fee, and if they made me start paying $400/year for it, I'd never order again.
Why is Amazon gold plating their fresh service when they didn't manage to meaningfully expand it since 2007?
They can get it right (figure out how to increase order sizes, order frequency, margins, etc.) and then expand; or they can expand and try to figure all of those things out. With their main business they chose to grow as fast as possible and are still figuring out profitability. When you're selling electronics with 50% markup that works. Groceries, which have <5% margins, not so much.
HN'ers asking why this isn't a cell phone app take note - this exemplifies why we (geeks) don't make good use cases for consumer tech and we should always be careful looking to our own habits and values when in a Product Development role. We're rarely the target customer and rarely behave like "average Joe". We're naturally resistant to superfluous redundancy ("My phone can already snap a barcode, I don't need a sepa…
2010 called and wants it's smartphones-are-for-rich-geeks product formulation back. Everyone who would buy their groceries via Amazon has a smartphone. This device is as baffling as it looks. With a smartphone you have the choice of UPC code scanning, QR codes, or label/logo recognition (as in Goggles). One of the photos implies it is a laser bar code scanner. So if this gizmo is useful, it's because it would be fast…
Friction is key. The example I typically use is "if the laser printer were in the basement vs. next to your desk how much would you use it?"
A device that you can pick up, hit a button, and do your thing has less friction than doing the same on a smartphone.
HN'ers asking why this isn't a cell phone app take note - this exemplifies why we (geeks) don't make good use cases for consumer tech and we should always be careful looking to our own habits and values when in a Product Development role. We're rarely the target customer and rarely behave like "average Joe". We're naturally resistant to superfluous redundancy ("My phone can already snap a barcode, I don't need a sepa…
I understand what you are saying but I feel like you overlook the power of having everything on one device, if you are at a friend's house eating something new you like you will likely have your phone on you. Also this viewpoint id's really shortsighted, everyone will be very used to using your cellphone for everything as our generation ages
Nothing will prevent you from doing that also (I'm sure).
Just like you can own a kindle but also read kindle books on, for example, an iphone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
2010 called and wants it's smartphones-are-for-rich-geeks product formulation back. Everyone who would buy their groceries via Amazon has a smartphone. This device is as baffling as it looks. With a smartphone you have the choice of UPC code scanning, QR codes, or label/logo recognition (as in Goggles). One of the photos implies it is a laser bar code scanner. So if this gizmo is useful, it's because it would be fast…
"it would be faster" Friction is key. The example I typically use is "if the laser printer were in the basement vs. next to your desk how much would you use it?" A device that you can pick up, hit a button, and do your thing has less friction than doing the same on a smartphone.
Based on the comments, I'm guessing few poeople here have ever worked retail and held a barcode scanner. Break out your phone, load up your barcode scanning app (there's 20 seconds right there even if the phone is in your pocket). Now try to actually scan something with it. You'll spend another 30 seconds lining up the little on-screen window with the code, rotating things, waiting for the camera to focus, and even h…
Anyway with respect to this:
"It's a dedicated barcode scanner"
So I would expect then if the amazon device turns out to be a hit that a dedicated bar code scanner might be incorporated into the functionality of a smartphone. Where if it was waved over a bar code you'd get a screen where you could then take action (or not). After amazon proves the market of course. (Like with Kindle).
I don't think that this necessarily means that an amazon device wouldn't have a use though. It would still come in handy for other purposes and at other times.