What is Amazon been working on?
TL;DR Pencil created an amazing and shorter way to tell stories. Link
If everything you can think about are drones, Alexa, or PrimeNow then, chances are you don’t know what Amazon is up to.
Let’s see what Jeff Bezos’ team has been working on.
Air-Cargo Business
Your packets on the weekends are coming late? Your scheduled Valentine’s Day gift won’t arrive on time because third party carriers have become one of the bottleneck of Amazon’s supply chain? UPS/FedEx are too slow? Amazon might be leasing 20 Boeing 767 and is already working with Air Transport Services Group in Ohio. Link
Chip Business
Is this for their AWS? Amazon disclosed the acquisition of Israeli chip designer Annapurna Labs for ~$350M. Link
Benedict Evans said in his newsletter 2 weeks ago:
Amazon is getting into the chip business. It bought Annapurna last year for $350m: people thought this was for AWS, but it will offer its chips to manufacturers of home routers etc to improve the quality of connectivity. Everything that helps connectivity helps ecommerce and hence Amazon’s core business, but this seems a bit indirect, unless there’s something else coming.
Ocean Shipping
Amazon China just received the license by the Federal Maritime Commission, meaning Amazon China is now legally allowed to manage ocean shipping to the United States for other companies. Link
Lobbying $ increased 91.4% from 2014 to 2015
Not surprisingly, Amazon is trying to lobby for issues like “unmanned aerial vehicles, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act,” and to surface transportation in order to have more control of its fulfillment process. Link
