[danielamitay]

Those are examples of predicting demand changes on a macro scale.

Amazon wants to do this on a more micro, person-by-person level. For example, you visit a product page for some specialty shampoo. Amazon might decide to ship that product before you even add it to your cart.

[sandieman]

I think he might be referring to them owning the patent on "predictive shipping". Plenty of prior art, where this appears obvious.

[ceol]

The patent isn't for "predictive shipping." It's for Amazon's specific implementation of "predictive shipping."

You can't just boil a patent down to two words and then claim prior art.

[AmVess]

My response to Amazon, if they do this, is something I call predictive returns. As in, I predict I will return everything they ship to me in this manner.

[erikpukinskis]

They don't actually release the product to the consumer until you actually buy it. They just move it closer to you.

[ceol]

It's like you read the article or something.

[ultimape]

I does mention freebies in the patent - that would assume they have a confidence level where they ship something to you before it's bought.