A look at Amazon’s new East London HQ
Earlier this week, Amazon announced that it’s going to open a brand new HQ in the trendiest part of East London. Located in Shoreditch, the new 15-storey Principal Place offices will allow the company to almost triple its workforce from 1,700 to 5,000 employees when they open in 2017. Like it’s futuristic new Seattle HQ, Principal Place will try to introduce a little nature back into the urban jungle. There’s tennis and basketball courts hidden among a roof garden, while floor-to-ceiling office windows will welcome in the sun. Unlike Google, which is currently working out exactly what it wants from its new Kings Cross HQ, Amazon’s plans are already set in stone, and thanks to renders from property developer Brookfield Property Partners, we can take a virtual tour what Amazon employees will enjoy in a couple of years.
Filed under: Amazon
Via: Principal Place
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HTC reportedly lost its Amazon phone deal due to AT&T objections
As you may have noticed, that rumor of HTC making Amazon smartphones never panned out; Amazon ultimately designed the Fire phone itself. But was it a bogus story to begin with? Not if you ask The Information. Its sources claim that HTC landed a deal to make a low-end Amazon phone, but that AT&T freaked out when it heard that it wouldn’t have a US exclusive on the device. The carrier reportedly threatened to drop support for the higher-end Fire, forcing Amazon to scrap HTC’s project. That may have been a tough decision, as Amazon had supposedly offered to buy HTC before being turned down by its acquisition target’s independence-minded chairwoman, Cher Wang.
None of the companies involved have commented on the drama, so it may be tough to ever know the full story. The objections are at least plausible, however, since AT&T has a history of demanding exclusives for HTC-made specialty (read: gimmicky) phones like the First and Status. Whatever happened, HTC may have dodged a bullet — the Fire isn’t exactly a strong seller, and there’s no guarantees that a budget Amazon phone would have fared much better.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Amazon, AT&T
Source: The Information
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Amazon Prime Instant Video finally comes to Android
We’ve been waiting for what seems like forever, but today’s the day that Amazon finally lets Android users watch video on the go. The company has updated its core shopping app to bake-in Prime Instant Video, enabling users to catch digital re-runs of The Sopranos whatever device they’re rocking. The updated app also now lets customers access every part of Amazon’s online retail catalog, so they can pick up a kitchen appliance or two in line at the DMV. The app is available for free on Google Play, with 5GB of free cloud photo storage with Amazon Cloud Drive thrown in as a sweetener.
[Thanks, Anthony]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Amazon
Source: Amazon (Google Play US), (UK)
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Twitch’s CEO sees Amazon integration as an opportunity, not an obligation
When Amazon purchased Twitch for almost $1 billion, the question burbled to the top of everyone’s mind: which Amazon service will invade the platform first? The idea hangs with minor dread, a concern that a corporate agenda will ruin what customers have come to love about the game streaming service. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear isn’t worried, however. He’s been adamant Twitch sold to Amazon because it promised autonomy. “Our attitude towards it is not that this transaction happened, therefore we have to do integrations,” he explained at TechCrunch Disrupt. “It’s that now we have the opportunity.” Amazon, he explains, offers Twitch new resources for security, licensing and marketing — but says that Twitch will only integrate Amazon services that benefit the consumer.
So, what would be a good Amazon experience for the Twitch consumer? The CEO has some ideas. “What might be a good experience is watching this game on Twitch,” he imagines, “with a way you can buy it right now at a 20 percent discount. That sounds like something our broadcasters would want to offer and our viewers might like it.” Incentive-based Twitch viewing is just one idea, however, and Shear says it’s not something either Twitch or Amazon will force on broadcasters or viewers.
Shear says Twitch is exploring less consumer-facing integrations too — specifically citing issues with content licensing. “We can put our music licensing team with their music licensing team and see if they can interact. We have an opportunity to see if that makes sense or not.” Still, he’s choosing his words carefully: an opportunity, he says again, not an obligation.
Filed under: Gaming
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Amazon’s Fire phone drops to 99 cents on contract
We had a few problems with Amazon’s Fire phone, but one of the biggest was its steep asking price; $200 on contract (or $650 off) is a lot to pay for mid-range hardware with perspective effects thrown in. That won’t be a problem after today. The online retailer has just slashed the price of its first handset down to 99 cents on a two-year AT&T contract, or $449 if you want to go contract-free. You’ll still get the year’s worth of Prime membership and unlimited cloud storage, to boot.
Amazon hasn’t explained the sudden drop. However, you don’t normally see this kind of discounting just six weeks after a product launch — when it happens, that’s usually a sign that people aren’t buying. See the HTC First’s drop to the 99-cent mark within a month of availability, for example. It’s tough to know whether estimates of sub-par sales from The Guardian are anywhere near the mark (Amazon doesn’t give out shipment numbers), but it’s safe to presume that shoppers weren’t enthralled with the Fire phone at its original, premium-level pricing.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Amazon, AT&T
Source: Amazon (1), (2)
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Amazon’s new Drone Store caters to all your robotic needs
Amazon is apparently an even bigger fan of robotic vehicles than we first thought. The online retailer has just launched the Drone Store, a section dedicated solely to these remote-controlled machines. Besides selling you vehicles and accessories from the likes of DJI and Parrot, the storefront also includes buyers’ guides, flying tips and previews of hardware coming down the pipeline. Frankly, Amazon is being a bit optimistic here — most of the nicer offerings in the mini-shop aren’t exactly impulse purchases, even if you’re a veteran pilot. Still, this should be one of the better ways to get started with drones if you’d rather not scour the whole internet looking for advice.
Source: Amazon Drone Store
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Amazon’s Fire phone coming to the UK as an O2 exclusive
Amazon’s usually quick to stock its national sites with any new homegrown hardware, but we were reminded just how long Fire TV has been out in the States last week when the company announced its European launch. Today, we’ve learnt Amazon’s other new(ish) device, the Fire phone, will be making a much more timely appearance in the UK. From right now, you can pre-order it exclusively through O2, with September 30th set as the delivery date. The smartphone, which first landed in the US in late July, has a bunch of unique features like 3D head-tracking, one-handed gesture controls and live, on-device customer support through Mayday. There’s also Firefly, an image- and audio-based search engine that can help you find products on Amazon, translate text, extract information from business cards and similar, as well as integrate with other apps like StubHub.
When we reviewed the handset, we weren’t sold on the usefulness of all these features, especially when they can be a burden on battery life. That being said, the UK model will launch with Amazon’s latest software update, which includes various systems tweaks and other improvements, like the addition of quick app switching. Curiously, Amazon has decided to replicate the carrier exclusive model it has with AT&T in the US, just with O2 in the UK (the Fire phone is also launching in Germany soon with Deutsche Telekom). It seems the company is intent on sticking to partnerships, even if it limits the potential customer base.
Being an exclusive, O2’s current in the process of porting its Android apps to the Fire, including O2 Priority, My O2, Tu Go and O2’s WiFi hotspot finder. All these have been adapted to take advantage of the Fire phone’s Carousel UI, which pulls info from the app to serve it underneath the icon, and will be available come the end of September.
The handset will be free from £33 per month on O2’s Refresh tariff, making the total handset price £360 (for the 32GB model), and as we’ve said, it’s up for pre-order online, in-store and over the phone today. Anyone that picks up a Fire phone before the year’s out will get a little bonus, too: one free year of Prime membership, or a year extension when renewal looms.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Amazon
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Wuaki.tv to join Netflix and Amazon with 4K streaming
In the competitive UK streaming market, pricing might be important, but many services live and die on the features they offer. With juggernauts like Netflix and Amazon already committing to bumping up the quality of their streams, Wuaki.tv is moving quickly to match its competition by adding 4K content to its service. The company has worked with LG and Samsung to develop a new app capable of streaming 4K movies direct to compatible TVs in the UK and Spain by the end of the year. Like Amazon and Tesco’s Blinkbox, Wuaki.tv offers a mixture of subscription or pay-as-you-go movies and TV shows, letting you stream its 4K content any way you want it.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
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Twitch wants to be the conduit for professional eSports
What do you do after Amazon purchases your start-up for almost $1 billion? If you’re Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, you stay the course. “Amazon has a very specific track record of retaining founding teams for a long time,” he told The Information in a recent interview. “The idea is that we get to operate in San Francisco independently.” Shear has said it again and again since the acquisition: Twitch chose Amazon for autonomy, the freedom to control its own destiny. Shear seems optimistic about the company’s future — it’s experimenting with music broadcasting, and sees e-sports as an area ripe for expansion. More than anything, Shear seems to want the company to become the community’s go-to provider for streaming content.
“We’re not really a content producer,” he says. “I hope that we can provide more the equivalent of the Comcast of gaming.” Launching off a prompt from The Information, Shear explains that he wants to be the provider to professional eSports content, like Comcast to ESPN. If Twitch became a creator of content, it would be competing with its best content providers — Shear would rather be the conduit of great entertainment in gaming than its author. The young CEO expands on the idea in an interview with Bloomberg. “There’s potential for eSports to be listed in that same pantheon as football and baseball in the states.”
“I hope that we can provide more the equivalent of the Comcast of gaming.” – Emmett Shear, Twitch CEO
It’s a natural expansion for the game streaming company, but its pursuing new avenues of entertainment as well. Just last month, Twitch steamed its first live concert: a set from DJ Steve Aoki. Shear says the experiment was met with “phenomenal” response, and other artists have started looking to Twitch as a music streaming platform. Still, Twitch is expanding its horizons with caution.
“The last thing you want to do is take your eye off what customers really want,” Shear told The Information. “It’s certainly a thing we’re thinking about, but not if it comes at the cost of gaming.” Shear’s biggest concern is losing focus — being too strategic and making a decision that alienates the customers that made Twitch what it is today. “That’s when things go wrong,” he says. “Are we producing stuff that’s awesome still?” He says he turns to Reddit AMAs to find out. The CEO wouldn’t say what his next experiments for Twitch are, but suggests that Amazon understands his vision. The company’s promised autonomy might pay off in the long run. His biggest fear, post-acquisition? “To look back in five years and say, ‘Damn, I sold way too early.’”
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Source: The Information, Bloomberg
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Amazon’s Fire TV finally comes to Europe, UK and Germany get first dibs
Americans have been able to get their fill of Amazon’s set-top box for a few months. Now it’s Europe’s turn! The internet giant is bringing the Fire TV to the old world, and it’ll be up for pre-order tonight. Customers in Germany will get first crack at it, when it ships on September 25th for €99. If you’re an existing Prime subscriber, Amazon will cut that figure in half to just €49. The UK will get its chance on October 23rd. There you’ll get the same discounted price of £49 for being a prime member, but it’ll only cost £79 if you haven’t already pledged yourself to the Amazon ecosystem. If you haven’t already bought a Roku, Chromecast or Apple TV, perhaps this is the streaming box you’ve been waiting for. If it isn’t… well then, you’re running out of options.
Update: If you want to cash in on those discounts you better move quick. The deal is only good for the next five days.
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AIVAnet 