[thrownaway2424]

The other problem is he just doesn't know anything about the industry he's writing on, because he's been a tunnel-vision mac fan for decades.

Current example: just below this article he credits Amazon with inventing a button that connects you to live customer service. The counterexample to that claim is Bloomberg, whose terminals have a dedicated Help key. Striking this key once gets you a help screen, but if you hit it twice someone from Bloomberg calls you immediately. Bloomberg has had that for decades.

[seiji]

credits Amazon with inventing a button that connects you to live customer service.

oh my glob. Willfully misunderstand the world much? He's talking about consumer devices. How many devices in your home that aren't $10,000/month stock terminals have live under-5-second video support?

[thrownaway2424]

Maybe he should just learn to write, then, because his statement is totally unqualified. "unique" "no one" and "anything" all appear in this statement. These are words with meanings.

"That’s truly remarkable, and a unique Amazon advantage. No one else has anything like this." -- Gruber

[mturmon]

We can all play the game you're playing. It goes nowhere. Here's a statement from you, above:

"he just doesn't know anything about the industry he's writing on"

Your statement is using hyperbole for effect, but it is false if regarded in isolation as a logical proposition (which seems to be your angle). Gruber's Apple sources are gold and he's very well-connected to an influential Apple developer community. He does not "know nothing".

It's fine to critique him, but be smart about it. He is myopic (Apple, Yankees, Scotch, letterforms, etc. - it can be tiresome), he has a tendency to interpret all Apple happenings in the best light, and he's overly critical of Google.

His writing has a lot in common with sports commentary -- Apple is "his team", and he can be chauvinistic about them, but he's trying, in his own way, to understand the whole league.

[function_seven]

The pumps at the local gas station also have such a button. Should he have mentioned those? A reasonable reader understands that "unique", "no one", and "anything" are referring to the market Amazon is selling the device in.

[eridius]

That doesn't seem at all relevant. That's like saying in a retail store you can ask the retail employees for assistance. The addition of a button to summon an employee does not make it special.

What interests me about this Amazon Mayday button (which I had never heard of before) and why I think Gruber talked about it, is because it's a completely free service provided to owners of a consumer device. It's basically customer service, but it's extremely fast (average of 9.75 seconds to get a response? Wow!) and apparently rather comprehensive too (e.g. helping a customer beat an Angry Birds level) as opposed to being restricted to actual tech support with the device in question. This is why Gruber is saying it's remarkable and unique, and I think he's right.

[function_seven]

Just to be clear, I totally agree with you. I was using the gas pump as an absurd example (as your sibling comment pointed out) of another instance prior art. I don't think parent's complaint about the use of "unique", "no one", and "anything" is a valid one.

[thrownaway2424]

On your way to absurdism you skipped over a bunch of legitimate prior art in the consumer space, such as the OnStar roadside assistance system (press a button in your car, OnStar service rep starts talking through your radio), or even dialing zero on your phone.

[eridius]

Both of those things you cited are services you pay for. I was not familiar with Amazon's Mayday button (not being a Kindle Fire HDX owner I guess), but it appears to be a wholly free service you get merely by owning the device. OnStar and the phone system are both subscription services.

[arrrg]

That’s a completely different market and completely irrelevant.