Reminds me of the joke I read somewhere about a "half-click patent", where the purchase is done on mousedown instead of on click.
E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
191–200 of 237 posts
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, many more people actually do use 1-click. A tip: if you ever find yourself saying "why does a company have X feature/product, I don't use it, no one uses it!" you might be right on the first statement but you're almost certainly wrong on the second. It wouldn't be there if no one used it.
Of course - if nobody used it Amazon would remove the button. I doubt that adding 1-click to some other site will greatly increase their sales - that is all I'm saying.
Amazon didn't start out as an online retail behemoth. There was a time when that patent made them more competitive, especially in the early years of the online shopping experience.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who has a software patent, you don't want to know what it's like, as an engineer, to see your work get abstracted into generalities for a patent. By the end of it, everything was so generically described that I couldn't even recognize it anymore. This entire system needs to be reworked or thrown away entirely.
> This entire system needs to be reworked In my mind patents were made to protect inventors and the little guy so that he/she could capitalize on their invention before the market is unleashed. When multi-billion dollar companies are gaining government sanctioned exclusivity to something through a patent, something seems off. But in this example they weren't a multi-billion dollar company 20 years ago.
> When multi-billion dollar companies are gaining government sanctioned exclusivity to something through a patent, something seems off.
So, in your world, why would a medical research lab spend billions researching and developing new drugs, spend years going through regulatory approval and testing, only to have their drug be sold for pennies as a generic?
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, many more people actually do use 1-click. A tip: if you ever find yourself saying "why does a company have X feature/product, I don't use it, no one uses it!" you might be right on the first statement but you're almost certainly wrong on the second. It wouldn't be there if no one used it.
Of course - if nobody used it Amazon would remove the button. I doubt that adding 1-click to some other site will greatly increase their sales - that is all I'm saying.
Like the article said, Apple licensed the 1-click patent from Amazon in order to offer the same frictionless experience to iTunes shoppers. This was for music sales, before the iPhone was even a thing, if memory serves me right.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#195The space (from my online shopping experience) seems to be divided between Amazon (with one click checkout, fast delivery etc) and everyone else (42 click checkout and one week delivery, if you're lucky). If the one-click patent was a major inhibitor of competition, I'd basically expect to see a lot of two-click check out options. Instead I find myself creating a million redundant user accounts, telling people that m…
Which country is it that it's so bad?
At least here in .de, there's plenty of other online retailers which are just as fast, or at least almost, and while the checkout sometimes has a step or two more than amazon, it's rarely that bad.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This entire system needs to be reworked In my mind patents were made to protect inventors and the little guy so that he/she could capitalize on their invention before the market is unleashed. When multi-billion dollar companies are gaining government sanctioned exclusivity to something through a patent, something seems off. But in this example they weren't a multi-billion dollar company 20 years ago.
> When multi-billion dollar companies are gaining government sanctioned exclusivity to something through a patent, something seems off. So, in your world, why would a medical research lab spend billions researching and developing new drugs, spend years going through regulatory approval and testing, only to have their drug be sold for pennies as a generic?
This comes up as an example a lot. The solution is not to eliminate patents, but just to get rid of a one-size-fits-all patent. Medical patents shouldn't be on the same footing as a software patent. For example, you could maybe ask for a FDA-Approved-Drug-Patent which would be different than new-roller-skates patent.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you just quibbling about the semantics used in the article? Or are you saying nobody else can implement "1 click" even after the patent expires... because of copyright? Edit: Was an honest question, I've upvoted all the answers as I found them interesting, not understanding the barrage of downvotes shrug
They're saying that, unlike usual patents, the content of the one-click patent filing does not serve as a useful basis for anyone else's implementation of a one-click shopping cart. This is the whole point of patents: to publicize a trade-secret process in exchange for protection. If your patent can't be used by your competitors to (make it easier to) start doing the thing you're doing, then you didn't really file a…
This is the most insightful description of patents I've ever seen. Thank you.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
thin profit margins on amazon is not the same as costs of doing business on amazon. Amazon takes a hefty cut.
Amazon's cut all in (shipping, listing, stocking, etc.) is often on par with the shipping cost for the slowest option with carriers.
15-20% of price sold at? No way.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#199The space (from my online shopping experience) seems to be divided between Amazon (with one click checkout, fast delivery etc) and everyone else (42 click checkout and one week delivery, if you're lucky). If the one-click patent was a major inhibitor of competition, I'd basically expect to see a lot of two-click check out options. Instead I find myself creating a million redundant user accounts, telling people that m…
Unless you don't pay for Prime, then you get the same week-long shipping and have to be careful not to click any of the boxes along the way that will make you a Prime member.
Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart around 2009. When I returned to the US in 2012, I saw Amazon as the new Wal-Mart and stopped shopping there. I realize Target and Kroger probably implement the same tactics as WM now, same with eBay/Newegg sellers and Amazon, so I realize it's more symbolic than anything.
Do you have good resources in mind on Walmart's harmful practices? Yes, I can search internet but looking for long sophisticated essays or even good books on the topic that you may have come across. I am not from US but currently studying here and haven't thought much about this topic. Walmart, Walgreen and Amazon feel too convenient. I would love to learn more on the topic before it becomes a habit.
You don't avoid shopping at Walmart because of "Walmart's harmful practices". You avoid shopping at Walmart because you're better than the kind of people who shop at Walmart. Then you start talking about Walmart's harmful practices to try to confuse other people.