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Amazon Gets into Blockchain Business; Launches Two New Products

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Last year, Amazon was planning for its debut in the blockchain industry with Amazon Web Services (AWS), but due to some reasons, could not come to any conclusions. But, finally, despite the huge plunge that crypto had faced this year, Amazon has launched two of its new products based on the same technology, at the Amazon’s re:Invent conference, held on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

blockchain
Image Source: medium.com

One of the two blockchain platforms that Amazon introduced is the Amazon Managed Blockchain. The platform is specially built for the blockchain developers. It helps them develop blockchain networks without having to create their own blockchain platform. The platform supports the two popular existing blockchain platforms — Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric. Right now, the platform is not available for Ethereum.

“Amazon Managed Blockchain is a fully managed service that allows you to set up and manage a scalable blockchain network with just a few clicks,” Amazon said in an announcement.

The other blockchain based product that Amazon announced at the event is the Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB), that is a type of log of transactions, which is transparent, stable, and cryptographically verifiable. A central trusted authority will supervise the ledger. The users can replicate a copy of their blockchain activities with the help of this platform.

“Managed Blockchain can replicate an immutable copy of your blockchain network activity into Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB), a fully managed ledger database. This allows you to easily analyze the network activity outside the network and gain insights into trends,” company website mentioned.

Amazon’s cloud chief Andy Jassy, took three hours to explain about Amazon’s two products as well as talked about its competitors and their products. “We don’t build things for optics,” he said, “AWS only spends resources on something when they understand the problem. This is something that a lot of companies need,” he added.

The availability terms for most of the services announced at the event are still under the wraps, and most of them are going to be more useful for the IT professionals, rather than the business managers. The blockchain services provided by Amazon are open for signups, and after the verification, the users will be able to create their blockchain networks and add more members to their accounts to simulate a multi-member network.

Walmart to Replace Apple as No. 3 Online Retailer in the U.S. by the End of 2018

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According to a report released on Friday, Walmart has overtaken Apple as America’s third-largest online retailer. Last year, Apple was at the third position, after Amazon and eBay in the list of the top retailers of the U.S. with 3.8% share in the total online sale (2017). Due to a decrease in the sales of Apple’s smartphones and electronic devices this year, Walmart was successful in surpassing Apple and taking over its position on the list.

walmart
Image Source: pymnts.com

The eMarketers had estimated a boost in the sales of Walmart that it will have approximately 3.7% of the share in the online sales in the U.S., but as the Walmart’s online business is growing quickly, its share in the total online sales of the U.S., raised to 4 per cent. Apple managed to get only a per cent rise in its online sales from the previous year, i.e., 3.9 per cent. It is expected that the growth in the sales of Walmart would grow by 39.4 per cent, just behind the sales growth of Wayfair, that is expected to be 40.1 per cent, by the end of 2018.

The latest prediction by the eMarketers shows that by the end of the year Walmart will capture $20.91 billion online retail spending this year. Walmart, itself, had also reported its third-quarter profits with revenue of $124.9 billion, 1.4 per cent up from a year ago. The company has seen a rapid growth in its sales due to its efforts through every means.

Wallmart has adopted the right technology to ensure a better customer experience, providing them with an omnichannel platform to use all its services. The app provided by Wallmart helps in easy shopping as well as let them track their orders and locate the items in the store using digital maps. In the holiday season, it has also got rid of the $35 fees for its two-day delivery and has offered no-delivery charges for other delivery options. After Wallmart, the two-day delivery service has also been adopted by Amazon for its festive-season sales.

Walmart U.S. CEO Greg Foran said, “We can provide a much better customer experience because we are in stock of the right item, at the right time at the same time it is going to help us be much more precise.”

The tech giant, along with its online retail business, is also planning to raise outlook of its physical stores to increase up to 3 per cent share in its sales for the fiscal year 2019, targeting the same years earning up to $4.65 to $4.80 a share.

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is Cheaper & is Beating its Predecessors

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After shipping the Fire TV Cube ($120) and third-generation Fire TV ($70, now discontinued), last year, Amazon has now launched a much cheaper yet outperforming 4K HDR video streaming device, named Fire TV Stick 4K. The device claims to provide better performance and costs only $50.

This time the remote of the device has got more features than the device itself, as now this tiny Alexa voice remote can control the TV with the power, volume, and mute buttons. With the remote, the user can control the TV’s current HDMI input, the attached soundbar, as well as can tune the channels, on the satellite set-top boxes.

Fire TV Stick
Image Source: timeincuk.net

The previous Fire TV devices can also be paired with the remote and can be bought separately. Also, the new Fire TV Cube will now be available in the market, with this new Alexa remote. Alexa enabled device can help the user to check the weather, control the smart lights, pull up a feed from the doorbell cam, or access Alexa’s other functionalities with a simple voice request. To use Alexa in the handsfree mode, the user just needs to pair the Fire TV stick with an Echo device.

The predecessors of the Fire TV Stick were built on the 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, that too is improved in the newly launched device, as it is powered by the 1.7 GHz quad-core processor. The high-performance device, now includes the hardware-accelerated MPEG-2 video, enabling the user to plug-in the HDHomeRun Connect TV tuner into the Wi-Fi router, and enjoy over-the-air channels from an antenna. This enables the users to watch full broadcast quality channels on their home TVs.

The Fire TV Stick 4K has got the support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, that its predecessors, Fire TV pendant and Fire TV Cube, lacked and supported the basic HDR10 format. The device also converts the standard dynamic videos to HDR. The device is connected to the TV with a USB port, streaming excellent picture and sound. The Fire TV Stick has got various inbuilt apps, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and also streams the live TV services such as PlayStation Vue and Hulu. Still, the device does not have an app for Walmart’s Vudu service.

The device is the cheapest to stream the Dolby Vision, and it has provided a lot of content to the users to scroll over, keeping the business strategy clear in mind. The faster software handling and more sensitive voice command functionality of the device, at such a price, is making a huge difference with the performance as compared to the Roku and even the Apple TV. The Fire TV Stick, currently, is only available for the Amazon Prime members.

The Festive Sales Came to an End, Earning Double Profits For Flipkart & Amazon

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Image Source: theweek.in

The festive sales in India, inspired by the Singles Day event in China and the Cyber Monday in the US, have been repeated a few times now. Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale was the first of its kind (India), that was organised in October 2014. The five days sale of Flipkart, and the six days Amazon’s festive sale, has come to an end, and after the sales, Flipkart has claimed its 70% market share in the Indian e-commerce market, and likewise, Amazon has also recorded a huge profit in the sales. In fact, both the companies have earned double of the profits they had gained in the previous year’s sale.

The profits, that Amazon has earned in this festive sale, have registered its best-ever performance, nearly equal to the Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale. Although Flipkart is still in lead, Amazon’s India head Amit Agarwal reportedly said that the sale has given outstanding results, and has gained more profits, before the end of the sales. Also, it has surpassed all the expectations. He also said. “There are two specific areas, where we pay particular attention to, which is: the new customers and the reach of those customers, and Prime member sign-ups.” The sales added 80% new customers from the rural area to the Amazon customer base, and there have been new sign-ups for Amazon’s Prime Membership. According to the reports, Amazon sold 1 million Xiaomi smartphones, and also, the one plus phones worth 400 crores, in a day.

On the other hand, Flipkart has gained two times more profits than the previous year’s sales, fashion products playing the most vital role in it. It also sold 3 million smartphones on a single day and has claimed 85% shares in the smartphone market on that same day. A Flipkart spokesperson said, “Gross merchandise value (GMV) grew 80 per cent over the last year, whereas units grew by close to 2X year-on-year.” According to Flipkart, the BBDS 2018 has smashed all its previous records. It also gained almost 50% more customer base for Flipkart and welcomed 25 million visitors on its app, on one of the sale days.

Both Amazon and Flipkart had introduced EMI and other new payment options to attract more customers from the rural areas of India. And, based on the sales, one must say that both have achieved beyond the targets. Along with Amazon and Flipkart, other e-commerce sites including Shopclues, Snapdeal and Paytm Mall also organised their festive sales and has seen a surge in their profits this year.

Amazon Added New Product to its Echo Speaker Series

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Amazon hosted its hardware event in Seattle, Washington, in the Amazon’s Spheres biodome, located next to its corporate office. In the one hour of the hardware event, senior vice president of devices and services, Dave Limp claimed to showcase 70 products, including 13 new devices and new software updates. The event was a sign that Amazon is trying really hard to expand in every field.

In the new launch, Amazon has focussed on its Echo-branded speakers as its priority. It has updated its Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show speakers, enhancing the sound and look up to 70 per cent.

amazon
Image Source: techhive.com

The exterior of those speakers has also been changed to a better version increasing the size of the speakers. Even the addition o new features to the speakers, these are still available at the same price. The Echo Dot is available for $69.64 (Rs 4,499) and the Echo Plus, with a larger 3-inch Neodymium woofer is available for $208 (Rs 14,999). The Echo Show, on the other hand, is out with improved sound, 10-inch HD display and even support for Microsoft’s Skype for video calling. The Echo Show with its new update, have got a web browser access for the users, on which the user can play music or search any recipe. The cost of Echo Show’s new updated version is $228 (Rs 16,407).

The major new products that Amazon has launched, comprises the series of the Echo Companion speakers. The Echo Companion series covers the Echo Sub, Echo Link, Echo Link Amp, and the Echo Input. The cost of the Echo Sub is $130 (Rs. 9334) and can be used by plugging into one or two Echos. The Echo Link and Echo Link Amp are the Sub Bwoofer, that can be paired with a stereo, making the stereo an Alexa-powered sound station. The latter product is having an additional amplifier, as well. The Echo Link is $200 (Rs 14360) box and the Echo Link Amp costs around $300 (RS 21540). The Echo Input has a four-microphone array, that is built for receiving commands from any of the rooms in a house, and is designed to support multiroom audio, so, that you can play the same song in multiple rooms.

Amazon is not only providing you with the home speakers but, also has entered into your car. It has launched an in-car speaker, powered by Alexa: Echo Auto. The Echo Auto uses the Amazon Smart Plug, worth $24.99 (Rs 24.99), and the price of the former is $49 (Rs 3518), and $25 (Rs 1795) for special invites.

Along with the speakers and the subwoofers, a wall clock with a ring of LEDs around the clock face, compatible with all of the Amazon Echo devices, costing $29.99 (Rs 2153), the Fire TV Recast DVR box providing 500GB storage, costing $229 (Rs 16442) and a microwave oven enabled by Alexa, costing $59.99 (Rs 4307), were also launched during the event. The products are ready for pre-order and will be available by the end of October 2018.

After Apple Amazon Also Joins the $1 Trillion Club

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Image Source: marketwatch.com

It is quite difficult to believe that once a non-profit online bookstore, that was founded in a small garage, has hit the $1 trillion mark in business, after 21 years. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Amazon’s growth and under his leadership, Amazon has become the second tech company that has hit the $1 trillion valuations.

Noticeably, Amazon valued $600 billion in January 2018, and in just 165 days of trading, it has joined the 1 trillion club, as the second member, just after Apple. In the past, Jeff Bezos has done a few massive investments that have led Amazon to reach this position. In the beginning, Amazon was an online bookstore but now it has its hand in various other fields too.

Amazon has excelled in AI and has acquired a pharmaceutical store PillPack for $1 billion. It has revolutionised the way of shopping and its retail unit has added a lot of revenue to its growth. The main contributing industry that has helped Amazon to achieve the $1 trillion mark is AWS. The Amazon Web Services has been contributing as of 65% to the company’s growth, providing a $25 billion in revenue annually. Also, its fastest-growing ad business has generated $2 billion in quarterly sales recently.

No wonder that Amazon has become the number one retailer in the US that captures nearly half of all U.S. dollars spent online. Some analysts have even mentioned that soon Amazon can overtake Apple if it keeps growing at such pace.