Amazon Friday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire Whole Foods Market for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion. Amazon has ostensibly been an online retailer for over 20 years — except some niche retail bookstores and their attempt last year at… Read more »
As part of yesterday’s WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) Google launched their foray into home connectivity with the HomePad called by Apple CEO Tim Cook, “breakthrough home speaker with amazing sound and incredible intelligence that will reinvent home audio.” Don’t overlook the last word, in his statement, despite the desire some will have to group HomePad with… Read more »
The cloud computing pricing war is nothing new. In 2014, Microsoft, Google and Amazon entered a fight with the aim to gobble up the biggest slice of the market share by matching each other’s falling prices. What ensued was a price slashing spree in a few days’ span, in some cases dropping cloud computing product premiums… Read more »
A report released this week by global research and consulting firm Ovum has explored the changing identity of the customer in the digital age with the emergence of what they term the “Augmented Customer” — an interconnectedness between customers, retailers, and technology. “With the number of connected smart devices expected to double thanks to advancements in smart home,… Read more »
Amazon wants developers to be fully locked into its ecosystem, which is why on Wednesday it announced a new program to give additional promotional credits to developers that build Alexa skills and use Amazon Web Services (AWS). Alexa developers are already provided with AWS Free Tier, which gives one million AWS Lambda requests and 750… Read more »
This is the final installment of an eight-part series about the importance of cross-cultural design which examined several attempts by large, well-known American companies to expand their reach by marketing in China. As this series exposed, the bulk of those attempts have failed to achieve much success, even though China is the second largest economy… Read more »
This article is part of a series about the importance of cross-cultural design, other installments of which have been published over the last month. Before mentioning anything about Amazon, the scale of its problem must be described. In 2014, after disappointing results for their business in China, Wolfe Research Analyst Aram Rubinson estimated that Amazon… Read more »
Japanese messaging service Line announced on Thursday a personal assistant, called Clova, in the mold of Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. The app will communicate to Asian users through hundreds of different screens, including an Echo-like speaker. Line will bundle its messaging service, which integrates payment, ridesharing, and shopping, and Naver’s search platform into Clova.… Read more »
People who struggle with frozen pizza and microwaveable food instructions will be happy to know that Whirlpool unveiled a selection of kitchen appliances able to cook your food without pressing any buttons. Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas, the appliances include a double-wall oven for $2,600, a microwave for $1,000,… Read more »
AT&T announced two new Internet of Things (IoT) starter kits at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas, one for Amazon Web Services (AWS) developers, the other for developers that use Raspberry Pi. It comes six months after the launch of the wireless giant’s first starter kit. The two new kits look to… Read more »
