Going through TechSpy, I came across yet another innovation by Amazon, did you know that Amazon want to take over your average shopping requirements? I’ve looked at dates of when this was known and apparently people started to write about it back in April 2015. Why wasn’t this known to the world? Ah, because Amazon has currently kept it to working in America.
Back in the good old days, there used to be General Stores, Butchers, and so on. Then came the supermarkets which then have been blowing the “mom and pop” shops out of the water (like Walmart). Then the internet arrived and slowly but surely people find better deals online than in stores. Amazon is capitalizing on that very idea with the Amazon Dash buttons.
What is an Amazon Dash button? It’s basically a small button with a specific name brand (such as Bounty, Tide, Maxwell House, etc) that can be pushed and connected to your mobile phone. It was created by the current Senior VP of Amazon Devices, David Limp; its his current new invention for Amazon. He’s also made the Paperwhite, Amazon Fire phone, and Amazon Echo.
Here is an example, you use Tide for washing your clothes. You notice that your bottle of Tide is running low, so you open your cleaning cabinet and push the Tide Dash button. You then get a notification on your mobile phone from Amazon saying that your order for Tide has been received, would you like (for certain) to order it? If yes, then Amazon Logisitcs will send it to you as soon as possible. I did forget to mention that it’s for Amazon Prime Members only.
This sounds great doesn’t it? Well yes and no.
Yes because it’s quite innovative and it will push people to use Amazon more than going to the store and it will push people to use the brands that are supported by the Dash buttons.
The worrying bits:
The security of using such devices may make it easier for people to get their hands on your details; especially your card details. It also has been noted that since it’s pushing certain brands to be bought, it will prevent people from stop looking for deals within their supermarkets for other brands and it will stop people from realizing how much they are really consuming.
Regardless of the pros and cons, if you want to marvel at this new tech, have a look at the video and form your own opinion on it.
Here is a review from Chris Smith about actually using the darn things and the possible darker side of this bright idea by Ian Crouch.