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The hyprocisy of Amazon

December 9th, 2008 by masukomi

Don’t get me wrong, as a customer I love Amazon. But their recent policy towards mobile devices is BS.

In 2003 Amazon said

”…wireless users find themselves living in an increasingly mobile world. Mobile phones are a commodity. Users have grown accustomed to staying connected while on-the-go. As smart mobile device penetration grows, more and more users are expecting their devices to provide anytime, anywhere connections to data services and information.”

And then went on to extol the virtues of a company that used their web services to make mobile phone apps.

And yet, in 2008 when this has never been more true. Amazon refuses any developer the ability to use their web services from a mobile device while they simultaneously make one of their own.

The associates program has been a huge success, and in a time when they are more than happy to have desktop and web apps using their service, and have more infrastructure to support requests than they’ve ever had, they won’t let anyone but themselves do it from a phone.

That’s just hypocritical BS amazon. If you’ve got a good reason for refusing us access to your API from mobile devices then please, make it known. Otherwise, I, and my fellow developers are Calling Bullshit on your actions.

4 Responses

Aaron writes:
December 9th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

The glacial pace at which companies come to terms with new technologies is gut-wrenching. Think how long it took web-based companies to open their APIs…now figure it’s going to take that long for the mobile space to flatten and open as well.
DennisQ writes:
December 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

The issue is that they’re still struggling to get their mobile offerings together. Until they do so, I don’t think they can afford to let a 3rd party come in and dominate the experience w/ a mobile site or app. It would be as if Amazon let associate sites startup before they ever polished their own website. Once users latch on to a competing site, they’ll have lost all hopes of owning the mobile experience themselves.

The Amazon Mobile iPhone app is a joke, and their mobile iphone site is a decent first attempt, but nothing that a 3rd party couldn’t easily eclipse. Once they get their act together and the mobile adoption starts to tail-off, I’m sure they’ll extend their associate program right away.
masukomi writes:
December 9th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

Aron: I don’t know. While I agree with you in principle, I think in this instance Amazon IS quite capable of dealing with the pace. They were prepared for it in 2003 according to that quote, and the Amazon for iPhone app they just released shows that they really do get it. I think this is just a case of bullshit about getting their app out there instead of third party apps.
masukomi writes:
December 9th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

Dennis: I think you’re right, but I question the need to own the mobile experience themselves. I mean, does it matter? Sure they won’t have to pay out that extra 5% commission, and I’m sure that would add up, BUT, if, as you suggest, their iPhone app isn’t up to snuff then wouldn’t it be in everyone’s best interest to let sweet apps like Mazo compete for the best amazon experience. I mean, with competition like that, the crap little things that would potentially give people a bad impression of amazon haven’t got a chance of surviving.