Killed By Amazon (Part 1)
In July 1995, an online store emerged selling the world’s largest collection of books to anyone with World Wide Web access, and the rest is history. Amazon has been the go-to online delivery service for over half of the world’s online shoppers. The company’s execs have been vocal about Amazon’s “fail fast, fail often” culture. While CEO Jeff Bezos has created a dominant global online retailer and cloud computer, he’s led the creation of many duds, too. He famously called the e-commerce giant “the best place in the world to fail” in his 2016 shareholder letter. At Amazon, multiple products came to an end, some due to slowing sales and the rest due to the company’s shift in focus. Here is your first tour of the ‘Amazon Graveyard’. Auctions and zShops Similar to eBay, Amazon once ran an auction site called Amazon Auction. It debuted in 1999 and ended a few years later. The service was replaced by Amazon Marketplace. Early Reviewer Program Launched in 2018, the Early Reviewer Program was introduced to boost the review count under the supervision of Amazon. Discontinued in April 2021, the company pushed third-party sellers to Vine and the “Request a Review” button. Kindle Fire HDX Launched in 2013, the Fire HDX was a favourite but it was discontinued in 2015 and replaced by a line of Fire HD products. Amazon Fire TV Recast Released in 2018, Amazon’s Fire TV Recast, was a DVR that allowed cord-cutters to record and watch shows aired by TV antenna. The company announced to pull the plug on the product in 2022 though it will continue to offer software security updates till 2026. Fire Phone In 2014, almost two months after it started selling, the phone was heavily criticised for its lack of features and soaring price. And even though Amazon reduced the price from $200 to just $0.99 with a two-year contract, the phone couldn’t be saved and was discontinued about a year later. Amazon Honor System Amazon’s Honor System was launched in 2001 to allow customers to make donations or buy digital content, with Amazon collecting a percentage of the payment plus a fee. The service was discontinued in 2008 and replaced by Amazon Payments. Amazon Music Storage The Amazon Music feature lets users upload their MP3 files from other sources, but the company ended its Amazon Music Storage subscription service in January 2019. Amazon Halo Earlier this year in April, Amazon decided to axe its health-tracking bracelet. Released in 2020, Halo was combined with an app that tracked users’ activity, body fat and emotional state, and was integrated with Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. Amazon Glow Just over a year after its debut, Amazon killed its kids-focused video device that used projection technology to create a virtual space on the tabletop. Kindle MatchBook Launched in 2013, Amazon entirely shut down the digital bundling platform in October 2019. The program gave the ability to authors and publishers to provide a heavily discounted ebook, when a reader bought a hardcover or paperback. Amazon Video Direct Amazon Prime Video Direct (APVD) was the only mainstream service that accepted unsolicited film submissions. Until 2021, after which, it no longer accepts submissions for non-fiction and short-form content. Amazon Prime Pantry Launched in 2014 Amazon discontinued its Amazon Pantry (originally known as Prime Pantry) service, instead rolling those household goods and shelf-stable pantry items into the main Amazon website where they can be ordered alongside the rest of Amazon’s products. Amazon Drive In October 2022, the Amazon Drive app was taken down from the iOS and Android app stores. As of February 1, 2023, Amazon no longer supports uploading files on the Amazon Drive website. You will still be able to view and download your files until December 31, 2023. Amazon Elements On 21 January 2015, Amazon discontinued its prime-only Elements diapers in just six weeks. Amazon EC2 In July 2021, Amazon Web Services announced it will shut one of its oldest cloud computing services, EC2-Classic. The company also warned the remaining users to move off to avoid application downtime. Kindle Newsstand From March 9, 2023, you can no longer subscribe to any publication on Kindle. Amazon notified subscribers in an Amazon post. Amazon Local Amazon Local was also shut down in 2015. A site similar to Groupon, Local shut shop as the other site also saw high rises and subsequently falls. Amazon Go Earlier this year, Amazon permanently closed eight of its high-tech Amazon Go convenience stores, including two in Seattle. Amazon 4-star In March 2022, Amazon announced it would close all of its 4-star, Books and Pop Up stores, Reuters reported. Amazon Whole Foods Market Whole Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, announced in early 2019 shutting down the business in India completely last year. Wag Amazon acquired Quidsi in 2010, which expanded into Soap.com, Wag.com, BeautyBar.com, Casa.com, and YoYo.com. In 2017, Amazon shut down Quidsi as it was never profitable. Amazon Destinations Amazon also briefly owned a hotel-booking website called Amazon Destinations which was intended to plan quick getaways. It didn’t last long though. Released in April 2015, it was gone by October of the same year. Amazon Dash Button Amazon stopped selling the Dash Button, a small wireless device connected to WiFi which instantly ordered pre-selected items on Amazon, in 2019, but apparently they were a success since they got customers used to not shopping with a screen. Amazon Tap The first Amazon Echo device was discontinued by Amazon without a replacement, the Amazon Tap was a mobile version of its Alexa-enabled smart speakers which the company stopped selling near the end of 2018. Pop-up stores Amazon will close all 87 of its pop-up stores and discontinue the program, it told Business Insider in 2019. The stores were a place where customers interested in smart gadgets could see how they worked before purchasing. Instant Pickup In 2017, Amazon introduced pick up for items within minutes of ordering them with Instant Pickup. However, the company ended its service in 2018 without specifying the reason. Amazon Screenwriter In May 2019, Amazon Studios introduced Amazon Storywriter and Storybuilder only to discontinue them on June 30, 2019 with accounts disabled and not downloaded content becoming inaccessible.
Since the list is too exhaustive, we have made it a two-part series
Amazon has been vocal about Amazon's "fail fast, fail often" culture. While CEO Jeff Bezos has created a dominant global online retailer and cloud computer, he's led the creation of many duds, too.
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["AI", "RAG", "cloud computing", "R", "Go", "Git", "ViT", "cloud_platforms:Amazon Web Services", "programming_languages:R", "programming_languages:Go"]
Tasmia is a tech journalist at AIM, looking to bring a fresh perspective to emerging technologies and trends in data science, analytics, and artificial intelligence.