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by justonepost 3027 days ago
People like variety in food. You don’t usually see network effects (ie, recipe only works if you use ingredients from same supplier)

Home automation though is a great network effects play which is why amazon is doing this.
1 comments
bduerst 3027 days ago
If home automation is their goal, then why doesn't Amazon open an API for making automated purchases? They can sell more through their marketplace this way.
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mcherm 3027 days ago
Because automating homes is not their goal; profiting when others automate their homes is their goal. They appear t believe that they will make significantly more profit by selling home automation tools and the things that attach to them than by carrying some other company's home automation tools in their catalog in addition to their own.
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justonepost 3026 days ago
Having interviewed with Alexa I can assure you home automation is there #1 goal.
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justonepost 3026 days ago
Fraud concerns most likely. They have an api they support for hooking up to Alexa.
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stickfigure 3027 days ago
Why do you assume they aren't working on it?

Big companies move slowly. I doubt Amazon could roll something like this out without 5+ years of development - possibly longer depending on how many times the department gets reorg'd.

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adrianN 3027 days ago
Because they want people to buy Alexa?
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