Amazon celebrated its biggest holiday season with customers all around the world shopping at record levels. Prime membership continued to grow this holiday – in fact, in one week alone, more than four million people started Prime free trials or began paid memberships, to benefit from free two-day, one-day or same-day shipping, in addition to ultra-fast one and two hour delivery with Prime Now.
Customers shopped from hundreds of millions of products, including a vast selection from small businesses and entrepreneurs. More than one billion items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide this season – and over just five days, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, nearly 140 million items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs. Amazon Devices also had its best holiday yet, with tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices sold worldwide. Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the top-selling Amazon devices this holiday season, but they were also the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.
“Since Day One we have obsessed over what we believe our customers care about – incredible deals and low prices, fast and free shipping, and a wide selection of top products – and we continue to provide all three, all the time. We’re excited that people continued to join Prime this holiday, to take advantage of more fast and free shipping options plus new convenient delivery like Amazon Key, as well as early access to Lightning Deals and unlimited streaming of TV shows and movies, including Prime Originals and more,” stated Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer, in a statement. “Thank you to the millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees all around the world who made this holiday better than ever before. We look forward to another great year ahead.”
Amazon Devices and Alexa
• It was a record holiday shopping season for Amazon Devices, with millions more devices purchased worldwide this year than last year’s holiday season.
• This holiday season was better than ever for the family of Echo products. The Echo Dot was the #1 selling Amazon Device this holiday season, and the best-selling product from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon, with millions sold.
• Customers purchased more than twice as many Amazon Fire TV Sticks compared to last year’s holiday season. Fire TV continues to be the #1 streaming media player family in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, across all retailers.
• It was the best holiday season ever for Fire Kids Edition Tablets with 2.4x as many devices purchased from Amazon.com compared to the same time period last year.
• Echo devices have been an extremely popular gift this year, with Echo Spot, Echo Dot and Echo Buttons selling out this holiday season; customers can still pre-order to reserve their place in line and orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
• This year, Kindle celebrated its 10th holiday season.
• This holiday, millions of Prime members voice shopped with Alexa for gifts, Amazon devices and everyday household essentials. The most popular items purchased by voice were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and TP-Link Smart Plug Mini.
• Alexa helped mix tens of thousands of cocktails this holiday season with Martini and Manhattan being the most requested drinks.
• The recipe for chocolate chip cookies was the most requested recipe this holiday season.
• The most requested song from Alexa customers this holiday season was “Jingle Bells.”
• The East Coast was more in the holiday spirit this season, asking Alexa to play holiday music 2.5x as many times as the West Coast.
• Alexa customers turned on their holiday lights more than a million times via Alexa this holiday season.
• Alexa customers asked for tens of millions of jokes this holiday season.
• The most common person people called this holiday season was ‘Mom’ in the U.S. and Germany, and ‘Dad’ in the U.K.
• Music listening time on Alexa was 3x as much this holiday season compared to last holiday season.
• Customers wished Alexa a Merry Christmas, Happy holidays and Happy Hanukkah 3.5x more this year when compared to last year’s holiday season.
• People asked about Santa 4x as much this holiday season compared to last holiday season.
• Customers asked Alexa for cooking related advice more than 9x as much this year compared to last holiday season.
• The most requested movies this holiday season via Alexa were Trolls and Elf.
• Alexa on Fire TV is more popular than ever before, with usage in the United States up 889% over the same time period last year.
• Alexa customers set 3x as many timers this year compared to last holiday season.
Amazon Delivered this Holiday
• Across North America and the Europe, associates at 10 fulfillment centers picked, packed, and shipped more than one million customer packages in a single day.
• Amazon’s peak day of customer fulfillment in 2017 was December 19, 2017.
• In 2017, we increased the size of our fulfillment and shipping network by more than 30% in square footage worldwide.
• In the U.S., more than 6,000 trailers and 32 Amazon Air planes helped get holiday orders to customers this season.
• Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Amazon Air carried enough packages to equal over a billion Echo Dots.
• An Amazon Air cargo plane can hold more than 10,000 Instant Pots.
• The last Prime Now order in time for Christmas was delivered in 58 minutes at 11:58 p.m. on Christmas Eve in Baltimore, MD. The order included the Kid Galaxy Amphibious RC Car Morphibians Shark Remote Control Toy, the Crayola Oil Pastels Art Tools, 28 ct., and the VTech Click and Count Remote.
Mobile Shopping
• The top five items ordered on a mobile device were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the TP-Link Smart Plug.
• Customers worldwide shopping on the Amazon App increased nearly 70% this holiday season.
• More than 1,400 electronics products were ordered per second on a mobile device this holiday season.
• AR view saw the most usage on Cyber Monday. The most popular item viewed with AR view throughout this holiday season was a black chair with ottoman. Top categories viewed with AR view are furniture, toys, Amazon devices, kitchen items and consumer electronics.
Community Giving
• Amazon’s Treasure Truck fleet and festively wrapped Amazon semi-trucks made special deliveries as part of Amazon’s “Delivering Smiles” holiday tour. Together, the trucks stopped in over 30 communities where Amazon employees live and work, donating thousands of items including STEM toys, books, devices, and household essentials to women, children, and families in immediate need. At the end of the tour, Amazon donated $1 for every mile the trucks traveled to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
• The “Delivering Smiles” holiday tour expanded Amazon’s growing support of children and families in immediate need. To learn more about each nonprofit Amazon visited throughout their “Delivering Smiles” tour in the US and Canada, visit https://blog.aboutamazon.com/delivering-smiles.
Digital Entertainment
• This year, 4x more music from Amazon Music was streamed over Alexa compared to last holiday season.
Amazon Music listeners loved using the lyrics feature to ask for songs on Alexa over the holidays, requesting “Jingle Bells” more than any other festive track just by saying a few words from the song.
Listeners wanted to slow down and unwind this season, asking Alexa to play “relaxing” music more than any other mood through Amazon Music.
• Listeners in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Houston and San Diego streamed more holiday songs on Amazon Music via Alexa, than any other cities in the U.S.
• Christmas by Michael Bublé was once again the most played album on Amazon Music during the holiday season.
• “All I want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey held the top spot for the most streamed holiday song on Amazon Music for the second year in a row.
• The most watched season over the holidays was the Golden Globe-nominated Prime Original The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
• The most watched series this holiday was The Grand Tour.
• The most watched Amazon Original movie this holiday season was The Big Sick.
• The most watched Kids Prime Original over the holidays was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
• The most purchased movie over the holidays was Elf.
• The most purchased series over the holidays was The Walking Dead.
• The most watched Amazon Channel subscriptions this holiday season were HBO, Showtime and STARZ, and the current seasons of Game of Thrones, Shameless and Power were the top watched shows on each channel, respectively.
• The top match-up of Prime Video’s 10-game Thursday Night Football schedule this season was on Dec. 7, when two million worldwide viewers watched the Atlanta Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints 20-17
• The most-read Kindle book in Amazon First Reads in 2017 was, Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
• The best-selling and most-listened-to audiobook of 2017 was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, narrated by Roger Wayne.
• The most-listened-to fiction audiobook of 2017 was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale.
• The most-commented-on audiobook of 2017 was Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, narrated by the author.
According to Amazon Charts, the most read and most gifted Kindle book in the U.S. this holiday season was Origin: A Novel by Dan Brown.
• According to Amazon Charts, the top book Kindle readers in the U.S. found ‘Unputdownable’ this holiday season was Year One: Chronicles of the One, Book 1 by Nora Roberts, reading it cover-to-cover faster than other books.
• According to Amazon Charts, the Most Wished For books of 2017 in the U.S. were: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was the most borrowed book from Prime Reading, worldwide, in 2017.
• Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph, independently published through Kindle • Direct Publishing, has been topping Amazon Charts throughout the holiday season – reaching #1 on the most sold non-fiction list the week of Cyber Monday.
Holiday Bestsellers
• Prime members shopped more than 100,000 Lightning Deals on Amazon.com with Prime Early Access.
• Customers shopped hundreds of Deals of the Day on Amazon.com throughout the holiday season.
• Millions of customers in the U.S. watched deals with Watch a Deal.
• This holiday season, Whole Foods Market sold over 500,000 pounds of sweet treats at the cookie bars featured in stores across the U.S. – that’s enough to feed Santa more than 6 million cookies throughout his trip around the world on Christmas Eve.
• Across Amazon Books’ 13 bookstores, the top selling nonfiction book was Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza; the top selling fiction book was Origin by Dan Brown; the top selling kids book was Diary of a Wimpy Kid #12, The Getaway by Jeff Kinney; and, the top selling poetry book was the sun and her flowers by Rumi Kaur.
• Across Amazon Books’ 13 bookstores, one out of seven customers who purchased a book also donated a children’s book to local charities supporting children in need. The top selling book given to local charities was the classic, Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman; it was also the top selling book across all 13 stores.
• The Echo Dot was the top-selling device across Amazon Books’ 13 stores; the Kindle Paperwhite was the best-selling Kindle; the TP-Link Smart Plug was the best-selling accessory; and WowWee Fingerlings were the top selling toy.
• The best-selling kitchen item in the U.S. and worldwide was the Instant Pot DUO80.
• The best-selling toy and game item in the U.S. was the Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm Blaster, while the best-selling toy and game item worldwide was What Do You Meme? Adult Party Game.
• The best-selling smart home product in the U.S. and worldwide was the TP-Link Smart Plug.
• The best-selling beauty and grooming items in the U.S. included the Finishing Touch Flawless Women’s Painless Hair Remover, the Philips Norelco Multigroom All-In-One Series 3000 and the Oral-B Black Pro 1000 Power Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, while the best-selling item worldwide was the Philips Sonicare Diamond Clean Rechargeable Toothbrush.
• The best-selling home, health and personal care products in the U.S. this holiday season include Fitbit Charge 2, the 23andMe DNA Test, the AncestryDNA: Genetic Testing – DNA Ancestry Test Kit and Radha Beauty Aromatherapy Top 8 Essential Oils.
• Robot vacuums were among the best-selling home items on Amazon.com over the holiday season.
• The best-selling products from Amazon Launchpad businesses included WowWee Fingerlings Interactive Baby Monkey, Exploding Kittens Card Game, and Watch Ya Mouth Throwdown Edition Card Game.
• The best-selling sports items in the U.S. this season included Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls, Wilson NFL MVP Junior Football and Spalding NBA Street Basketball.
• The best-selling fashion items in the U.S. this holiday season include ASICS Men’s GEL Venture 5 Running Shoe, Alex and Ani Initial Expandable Wire Bangle Bracelet, 2.5″, Levi’s Men’s 505 Regular Fit Jean, UGG Women’s Classic Short II Boot.
• The best-selling products from AmazonFresh in the U.S. this holiday season, were organic bananas, limes, cucumbers, navel oranges, yellow onions.
• The best-selling furniture products in the U.S. included the Zinus Memory Foam 12 Inch Green Tea Mattress, the LinenSpa 8″ Memory Foam and Innerspring Hybrid Mattress and the LINENSPA 6 Inch Innerspring Mattress.
• The best-selling automotive products in the U.S. included the Dark Seasonal Snow & Ice Car Scraper, the NOCO Genius Boost Plus GB40 1000 Amp 12V UltraSafe Lithium Jump Starter and the STANLEY J5C09 Jump Starter.
• The best-selling pet products in the U.S. included the PEDIGREE DENTASTIX Holiday Treats for Dogs, the KONG Wild Knots Bears Durable Dog Toys and the Taste of the Wild, Canine Formula.
• The best-selling baby products in the U.S. include the Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys, Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy and the Nuby Bundle of 3 Toys, which was also the best-selling baby product worldwide.
• The best-selling luxury beauty item in the U.S. was the Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe Herbs and Rosewater, stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner and Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water, Cleansing and Make-Up Removing Solution.
• The best-selling grocery item in the U.S. was Green Mountain Coffee Keurig Coffee Lover’s Variety Pack Single-Serve K-Cup Sampler, 40 Count, the Glaceau Smartwater Vapor Distilled Water, and Viva Naturals Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.
• The best-selling tools include the Black + Decker LDX 120C 20-Volt MAX Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill/Driver and the MagnoGrip 311-090 Magnetic Wristband.
• The best-selling wireless products in the U.S. include Tile Mate – Key Finder. Phone Finder, PopSockets: Expanding Stand and Grip for Smartphones and Tablets and Wemo Mini Smart Plug.
• The best-selling major appliances in the U.S. include Samsung MS11K3000AS 1.1 cu. ft. Countertop Microwave Oven, the Danby 120 Can Beverage Center and the NewAir AB-1200 126-Can Beverage Cooler.
• The best-selling musical instruments on Amazon.com were the Snark SN5X Clip-On Tuner for Guitar, Singing Machine SML385BTW Top Loading CDG Karaoke System with Bluetooth, Sound and Disco Light Show, and the Singing Machine SMM-205 Unidirectional Dynamic Microphone.
• The best-selling outdoor items in the U.S. were Intex Comfort Plush Elevated Dura-Beam Airbed with Built-in Electric Pump, the Stanley Classic Vacuum Bottle and the BV Bicycle Light Set Super Bright 5 LED Headlight.
• The best-selling home improvement products on Amazon.com were the Philips Hue White A19 Single LED Bulb (Works with Amazon Alexa), Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance 3rd Generation A19 10W Equivalent Dimmable LED Smart Bulb (Works with Amazon Alexa) and Himalayan Glow Pink Salt Lamp.
• The best-selling lawn and garden products in the U.S. this holiday season included the Weber 6492 Original Instant-Read Thermometer, Snow Joe SJBLZD Telescoping Snow Broom with Ice Scraper and Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector.
• The best-selling office products in the U.S. were Elmer’s Liquid School Glue (1 Gallon) – Great For Making Slime, Georgia-Pacific Spectrum Standard 92 Multipurpose Paper (8.5 x 11 Inches) and Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens (Assorted Colors, 12-Count).
• The best-selling business, industrial and scientific supplies in the U.S. included the First Aid Only All-Purpose First Aid Essentials Kit, Rubbermaid Commercial Stainless Steel Oven Monitoring Thermometer and TOPGREENER TU2154A High Speed USB Charger Outlet.
• The best-selling TVs in the U.S. this holiday season were the TCL 32-Inch 720p Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model), Samsung Electronics 40-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2017 Model), TCL 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model) and Samsung Electronics 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2017 Model).
Holiday Fun Facts
• This season, Amazon customers purchased enough WowWee Fingerlings Interactive Baby Monkey toys on Amazon.com to hang end-to-end down the Empire State Building more than 100 times.
• Amazon.com customers purchased enough TVs to create nearly 2,500 towers the size of the Space Needle.
Amazon customers purchased enough littlebits Star Wars Droid Inventor Kits on Amazon.com to man an Imperial-II class Star Destroyer.
• Amazon customers purchased enough Calvin Klein products on Amazon.com during the holiday to give five items to every attendee at Coachella 2017.
• Amazon customers purchased enough shoes on Amazon.com during the holiday season were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch from Alaska to Miami.
• This holiday season, Amazon.com customers purchased enough Wickedly Prime Truffle Spreads to make over half a million dipped strawberries.
• Treasure Truck customers purchased enough holiday wreaths that when stacked, one on top of the other, would reach the top of the Empire State Building nearly five and a half times.
• Amazon.com customers purchased enough Instant Pot pressure cookers this holiday to make more than nine million bowls of chili at once.
• Amazon.com customers purchased enough AmazonBasics hangers to hold an outfit for each person in the city of Houston, TX – the fourth most populated city in the U.S.
• If you lined up all the copies of Jeff Kinney’s, The Getaway that Amazon sold during the holiday season, you would reach the height of 444 Saturn V rockets.
• If you collected all of the copies of Walter Isaacson’s, Leonardo Da Vinci that Amazon sold over the holidays, they would weigh the equivalent of 25,417 gallons of paint – enough paint to cover over Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling 1,592 and a half times.
Source: Amazon
MacDailyNews Take: Juggernaut.
SEE ALSO:
Echo Dot was Amazon’s Black Friday – Cyber Monday bestseller as Apple’s delayed HomePod waits for 2018 release date – November 28, 2017
Apple’s late, delayed, limited HomePod is looking more and more like something I don’t want – November 27, 2017
Why Apple’s HomePod is three years behind Amazon’s Echo – November 21, 2017
Under ‘operations genius’ Tim Cook, product delays and other problems are no longer unusual for Apple – November 20, 2017
Apple delays HomePod release to early 2018 – November 17, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: The ‘operations genius’ who never has enough products to sell at launch – October 23, 2017
Apple reveals HomePod smart home music speaker – June 5, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Apple is misplaying the hand Steve Jobs left them – November 30, 2016
Apple delays AirPod rollout – October 26, 2016
Apple delays release of watchOS 2 due to bug – September 16, 2015
Apple delays HomeKit launch until autumn – May 14, 2015
Apple delays production of 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ in face of overwhelming iPhone 6/Plus demand – October 9, 2014
Tim Cook’s mea culpa: iMac launch should have been postponed – April 24, 2013
All those statistics,now publicly disclosed, are reasons NOT to buy stuff from Amazon.
Destoying mom and pos…. and charm of shopping.
You mean like Walmart?
Worse!
I meant mom and pop shops, such as poor little vulnerable Walmart, that has already put the smaller mom and pops out of business.
Just like what Home Pod will do. Wait, there is no Home Pod. Sorry, forget what I just posted.
So you’re saying Apple doesn’t know how many of each item in their App and iTunes/Music store has sold, when and to who? Or are you saying that since Amazon has disclosed statistics it is a reason not to buy from them?
So as an AAPL investor im terrified.
I gave my ten year old daughters ITunes gift cards. Eh,, they couldn’t care less. Their aunt gave the girls Amazon gift cards and they jumped for joy. Ten year olds know what’s more valuable. Same money? Or not. Not.
Terrified. Yup If amazon can make Alexa and get every persons exact buying habits and delivery address they can make a prime phone, apparently apples only product, pre order for people. Deliver with a superior maps program and also do it for small and large business. You know. That segment Apple refuses to cater to. Eh. It’s not like business has spending budgets.
Apple is in Spinal Tap waters.
Agreed. The difference in gift cards is the same as getting one for a mall vs one for a single store in that mall. Amazon GCs are closer to ‘cash’ versatility than an iTunes card.
The Amazon Prime phone with Amazon as service provider with Free data and Complimentary Alexa is next.
Apple has one quarter to snow people into thinking they still got Game. Then they better get game. They literary invented the device that people use to input info to Amazon but won’t do anything with it. They’re market share shrinks. They won’t go after enterprise. And now an iPhone is only a phone if Apple won’t do anything with the data.
You do realize that Amazon already tried their own smartphone on the market and it failed in a very big way? And that one of the many things that people didn’t like about it was its shameless self promotion built into the device. It turns out that people like shopping at Amazon, but don’t want their smartphone to be a giant advertisement for it.
As for enterprise, Apple has partnered with companies like IBM and Cisco to try to increase market share precisely in this market. But that takes time.
Since when did this become Amazon Daily News?
Siri is likely interested.
There’s an idea. Apparently more to talk about.
We got a phone here.
It’s so sad I can’t type the above without Apple spell correct choosing words other than “apparently” snd replacing with words that don’t exist. Like and as snd. Does it thimk anyone wants “snd” it continues. Honestly I think I’m done
I’ve been saying fir ten years that Apple needs to go into search and if they did upon announcing it google stock would drop by a third.
Apple hasn’t a clue. And Bezos gets the info
Instantly from catering to real peoples needs
And released all this a day after Christmas
What didn’t they release ?
Apple could never compete with what Amazon has accomplished, but its a shame it didn’t make more of a showing where they overlapped – smart devices in the home. Homekit’s withering on the vine. No reason to expect any improvement in the situation until perhaps WWDC, assuming Apple has anything left up their sleeve.
Apple *could* have competed. They just didn’t.
I said it years ago and several times since: Tim Cook is John Sculley 2.0.
Jeff for King and Alexa for 1st Lady. No, it doesn’t matter to me that Jeff’s a robot.
lolol
Apple should be criticized for being late to the market, but it was the right decision to not bring a device to market that was not ready.
Yep, they can’t manage to a more than one product at time. Very sad with thousands of employees and $5B HQ. Worse than HomePod NOT being available is that Siri is absolutely NOT up to the challenge.. Siri falls behind more and more with each passing hour.
An inconvenient truth: Apple is getting their asses handed to them.
In the retail space for sure. I work at a department store that sells Google Home devices, Echo devices, and all the different streaming systems there are.
Over the last four weeks, just my one store alone probably sold 500 Echo Dots or other Echo devices, 200 or so Google Home Minis, 200 Amazon Fire TV Sticks, 200 Roku devices, and ONE AppleTV device.
One.
Now, the Apple fanbois here will happily jump all over this, saying that Apple’s not interested in the customers who would buy a $30 Fire TV Stick, and that may be true. They might not care that a $70 Roku box will stream 4K, but you have to spend over twice that for an AppleTV that does so.
But in the retail world it’s hard to justify to a customer when they ask why the Apple TV costs so much more. Sure, you tell them about iTunes integration, the TV App Store, and so on but most people buy a streaming box for Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Video.
And a $30 Fire TV stick does those things just fine.
One problem with selling the AppleTV IMO is that unless the customer is invested in some way in the Apple ecosystem, it is a very hard sale to make due to being able to access everything else not Apple media, more affordably with the competition’s products.
“Alexa, please purchase three widgets and send them to me ASAP. Don’t bother to price compare, just send me whatever makes the most profit for you because I’m too lazy and impulsive to look at a computer screen.”
That is an option. Another is “Alexa please add three widgits to my shopping cart” so you CAN go an price shop if you desire before submitting an order..
I dunno if that list was exhausive, but it damn sure was exhausting…. 😉
damn sticky “T” key on my (2013) MBA. Any remedies out there….??
napalm.
I’m at the point wondering wtf is even going on in the Apple spaceship offices when Bezos and musk are making real siaceships.
So amazon has a technology dept cranking out Alexa and other amazing products
And Apple can’t figure out a speaker? Home kit?
This is how bad Siri is. I asked give me directions to mountain creek ski resort (Siri prints this request, hears me correctly)
Siri replied. Ok getting directions to ski and tee penthouse-Shias mountain shanty creek resort.
How bad Siri is. It heard me correct. Then AI interprets everything wrong. I don’t think Siri has ever helped once.
Then can’t fund a Nj ski resort AT ALL WITH MAPS.
Then this article prides itself talking about servicing small business and enterprise
You know,,, that tiny segment of commerce that Apple chooses to ignor including all the data that can be mined from it. So give people all the privacy you wants get the info from business duh.
So Apple goes after their 8% market share in every industry they touch and geniuses here will say it’s the right crowd as if everyone else money isn’t green.
Any typos courtesy Apple.
Can Trump run Apple for a day? Fire cook?
He’s have Apple pointed in the right direction in ten minutes. Shit I could do it.
Apples ass is kicked. Honestly what is Apple doing ?? And this is Amazon’s public info. What aren’t they telling.
Apple. Rethink different
I only care about the user.
You know, becoming an Apple user put ‘cynic’ in my chosen screen name. Which is why I feel a little vindicated to hear other words describe what people like me have been saying for years.
When it comes down to tech, Apple is overrated!
They are a great design company that depends heavily on the popularity of their star product, builds an ecosystem around it, and then locks the user’s in and competitors out.
To be fair, Apple doesn’t compete with Amazon. Amazon does warehousing. Apple does devices. There is some overlap in services, and AI (ie Siri vs Alexa) fits into that category. But Siri is much more advanced as a digital assistant. Where Amazon has succeeded so far is in simplicity (Alexa just seems to ‘work’ at very simple tasks) and commoditization (Echo and dot sold so many units simply because they’re cheap). As a business model, Amazon’s approach hasn’t panned out too well- witness Google chromecast and Amazon firestick. And Amazon has yet to turn a profit- ever!
What I take from this:
1. Echo and Dot are a success at capturing the rudimentary curiosity/tinkering whims of humans, much like pet rocks and fidget spinners. It’s cheap, and fun for about 5 minutes.
2. It’s no wonder that the Dot, an Amazon product, was the number one seller on Amazon.com. Just sayin’.
3. Apple shouldn’t worry too much about the Echo. Google, Samsung and FB should be VERY worried.
4. The IoT industry is still very much in its infancy. The AI technology in the Echo is way behind that of google and Apple. But I’m not sure Amazon wants to become the leader in the AI market. They just want to sell warehoused products. They sold ‘tens of millions’ of dots to 4-5 billion people. Apple sells close to 100 million iPhones every quarter.
Apples approach seems to be integration. They want to provide a secure platform upon which the IoT tech can thrive. Unless they step up their game with Siri, they’re gonna struggle because it’s already apparent that many people couldn’t care less about privacy if the service provided meets or exceeds their needs. That’s where Amazon, Google and FB have the big advantage.
Lots of well thought out points. I have a bit of a different view.
1. Echo and Dot are good at what they do and yes, it could be a ‘fad’ like pet rocks and fidget spinners. Siri does not fit into the same space so I have a feeling the HomePod will be a great speaker in the end and not much more. It may not have been advertised well, but the Echo Button device seems to be a happy accident that may extend enjoyment of the Echo family of devices with the entire household.
2. Dot and the rest of the Echo family are affordable and have had exposure over 2 years now. Increasing sales of the devices to me indicate a much larger audience accepting the quality and utility of the devices in their homes rather than a fad.
3. IMO the home speaker assistant market is lead by Amazon and all other companies are playing catch-up. Apple ignoring the Echo family and Alexa will be a fatal mistake. The Sonos One, IMO playing Switzerland, is in a good position to make a dent due to supporting not just Alexa, but also Google Assistant and Siri with updates next year.
4. The IoT industry is not the AI industry. Echo just happens to use Alexa Skills which is the interface for many of the IoT devices supported by the Echo family. As such Amazon has a massive head start in supporting the largest number of IoT device makers and as a result be the most flexible choice for new IoT home systems. I agree Apple sells huge amounts of iPhones. However you should be looking at how many iPhone users regularly make use of Siri vs the number of Echo device owners that make use of Alexa in this case.
I agree with you on Apple’s approach. They require device makers to certify their IoT devices with them in order to be fully compatible. This is a barrier to IoT device makers when compared to Amazon’s policies of supporting any IoT device conforming to their published API.
All I know is that I’m sick of all of those damn “Alexa” commercials on TV.
Devastating indicment of Apple as an increasingly culturally irrelevant company. Amazon is far more integral to most people’s lives in America than Apple. Cook and his loser exec team can’t even release the Homepod on time after announcing it 3+ months ago?! “We wan’t to get it right” is BS doubletalk for “we screwed it up”. At this rate “Amazon Prime” phones will be outselling iPhones within 5 years, at 90% of the quality and half the price.
You say that as if it’s a bad thing…
Why not 90% or even 200% quality at 50% the price? Isn’t that what competition is all about?
Not when you’re invested In Apple. I
Not amazon. Time to rethink allocations.
I understand your point, but that’s the gambler’s problem, not the user’s. I only stick up for the user.
Because as little faith as I have in Apple given their Social Justice Warrior, hard left turn, I have even less faith in Amazon. One company crushing all others isn’t competition its a monopoly. Amazon needs to be broken apart.
I would not defend them should they get there either, but they are not yet. Frankly they are hurting Walmart (I think) and I like that.
hahahaha…first, Amazon’s success in no way takes away from Apple. In fact it only highlights the popular use of Apple devices since most people are ordering from Amazon on their iPhones and iPads.
Second, Alexa ain’t all that. It’s not like it’s some super advanced AI; it has its flaws like Siri does.
Third, the idea of some Amazon Prime smartphone has already been tried by Amazon and failed. Funny how people forget that or don’t know about that. And while I like shopping at Amazon, I have never found their hardware quality to be so great, whether it be the Kindle or their speakers. It’s good…it’s OK, but it’s hardly industry leading.
Apple is stuck in the mud. I have the X, it is awesome, but what else is there to be excited about? Fixes to buggy software that shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place? Making tons of money off of a dozen products that can and will be cloned by low-cost alternatives isn’t an effective strategy. Where is Homepod? Where are the content deals to make the overpriced, underwhelming Apple TV a must have?
It doesn’t matter if you don’t think Amazon’s hardware is great, it has gotten better and its in the hands of tens of millions of people instead of iPads because of price and convenience to a more compelling ecosystem than Apple has. You think Amazon won’t release another phone, becuse the last one “failed”. LOL Failure is one step closer to success and though I have no love for Cook or Bezos, it’s painfully obvious that the latter has killer instinct, the former is a Social Justice Warrior wimp.
That last “Fun Fact” disgusted me. Let’s cover over priceless artwork, a treasure of mankind, with paint!
– enough paint to cover over Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling 1,592 and a half times.
No doubts, the only people that are most excited than Amazon about this fact is the “snowdenED” NSA, which has now a 24/7 ear listening into those millions of (non-longer) private lives! Amazon has made it to the top of their christmas card list, congratulations! Fools.