Amazon

A new article today from L2 takes a look at an excerpt from the NYT bestseller, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Among the takeaways from the chapter, the author shares some interesting ideas on Apple’s success as it has moved from the dominating tech world to becoming an icon in the fashion industry. However, even though Apple could be the first tech company to have a good shot at multigenerational success, it has some serious competition to overcome from Amazon and its Alexa platform.

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It’s widely expected that Apple will become the first company to hit a market capitalization value of a trillion dollars, but a chart comparing stock trajectories suggests that Amazon might get there first …

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Amazon has come under fire in the past for its lackluster approach to handling counterfeit products. Now, the online retailer is facing a broader problem, with counterfeiters going as far as to take over a company’s legitimate product listing…

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In a surprise move, Amazon is reported to be acquiring Ring, maker of smart doorbells, cameras, and home security products. The deal is expected to be officially announced later today.

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A new report from Canalys today shares its prediction that smart speakers are on track for record growth and will be the hottest consumer tech items of 2018. Canalys believes that consumers will buy 56.3 million smart speakers in 2018, just shy of doubling from 2017 sales.

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Amazon Prime Video recently launched on Apple TV, but the streaming media player hasn’t resurfaced on the online marketplace yet. Now it looks like Apple TV may finally be going live on Amazon’s online store.

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Amazon launched its Music Unlimited service just over a year ago, adding to Apple Music’s competition in the streaming music space – and a major international expansion today sees it available in 28 new countries.

Amazon quickly followed its US launch by rolling out the service to Austria, Germany and the UK the following month, and Japan later. It subsequently matched Apple’s family plan and student deal, but today’s news will increase the pressure as it becomes available to many more users …

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Along with launching today’s Countdown to Black Friday 2017, Amazon updated its iOS app to include a new feature for the holiday shopping season called ‘AR View’. Leaning heavily on Apple’s own ARKit, this new feature allows customers to virtually place products in their home “allowing them to visualize the aesthetic” prior to purchasing. (Also Amazon is currently offering a $50 iTunes gift card for $42.50. That’s 15% off.)

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The latest version of the Amazon Kindle iOS app, rolling out from today, adds a new light theme to the existing dark one. Navigation has also been improved, the company aiming to provide single-tap access to your most frequently-used features.

But the biggest change is building GoodReads right into the app. Amazon first integrated the Kindle app with Goodreads back in 2014, but is now making it an integral part of the app, which the company says offers three benefits to readers …

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We learned earlier this year that the average smartphone user spends 2h 15m a day using apps, and new data suggests that more of this time than ever is spent using shopping apps.

App Annie data shows that time spent in digital-first retailer apps like Amazon increased by 44% year-on-year in the first half of 2017 …

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Amazon unveiled a host of new devices at a surprise event yesterday, and one of the company’s latest compelling products is the new 4K Fire TV. On the heels of the Apple TV 4K launch, let’s take a look at how the two set top boxes compare and what this could mean for the future of Apple’s offering.

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Amazon took the stage in Seattle this morning to unveil a handful of new devices ahead of the holiday season. Today’s announcement includes the all-new Echo and Echo Plus Smart Speaker, a smaller Echo Connect, two updated models of its Fire TV streaming media platform and more. It was a big day in Seattle, and we have all of the details for you down below along with pre-order information.

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Amazon today has announced a new feature that allows users to play, synchronize, and control music playback across multiple Echo devices with support for voice commands. The news comes ahead of Apple’s HomePod launch in December and Sonos likely unveiling a new smart speaker in October. Amazon has also announced new tools for developers.

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Apple has long recognized the importance of the student market, using education discounts to try to pull them into the company’s ecosystem with hardware purchases, and adding a student discount for Apple Music last year.

Apple knows that if you bring people on board as students, they have huge potential lifetime value once they leave college. Amazon Music Unlimited seems now to be realizing the same thing, with a student deal that matches the Apple one – and going even further for Prime Student members …

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Much like Apple, Amazon is now said to have a secret heathcare team working on electronic medical records and telemedicine. A new report from CNBC details the team, dubbed 1492 in reference to the year Columbus first landed in the Americas.

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As it continues to expand its own ecosystem, Amazon may have a new messaging app on the horizon. According to a new report from AFTVnews, Amazon is working a messaging app called Anytime that carries a strong focus on group communication.

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Over recent months, Amazon has quietly started rolling out a new in-house installation service that aims to offer installation of Alexa products, as well as other devices. The effort is detailed in a new report from Recode, drawing similarities to Best Buy’s Geek Squad installation and repair service…

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