Amazon Stops Buying From Wholesalers
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| Amazon Stops Buying From Wholesalers | |
| Number | 770 |
| Broadcast Date | MARCH 8, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 4:05 |
| Hosts | Rich Stroffolino |
Amazon stops buying from wholesalers, Disney will add the Disney Vault to its streaming service, and Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple will start making AR glasses in Q4 2019.
Headlines
- Bloomberg reports that Amazon has abruptly stopped buying product from wholesalers to sell directly on its site, reportedly effecting thousands of vendors. Instead, Amazon is encouraging wholesalers to list items on Amazon's marketplace, shifting the costs of storing and shipping products, while allowing Amazon to take a commission on sales. In an emailed statement, Amazon said, “We regularly review our selling partner relationships and may make changes when we see an opportunity to provide customers with improved selection, value and convenience.”
- Google is expanding its Duplex AI-based appointment reservation assistant from a limited test in four cities to Pixel 3 owners across 43 US states. It will work with any restaurant that takes reservations but doesn't have an online booking option already. The service will roll out to users on other Android devices as well as iOS, in the coming weeks.
- At an investor meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated the company's forthcoming streaming service will launch in 2019 and include "the entire Disney motion picture library" soon after launching. This would effectively kill the Disney vault strategy of limited retail releases. New Disney films will also come to the service within a year of theatrical release.
- A new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple will begin mass producing a new augmented reality glasses product as early as Q4 2019. The product would be marketed as an iPhone accessory, serving as a display while offloading compute and networking wirelessly. Previous reporting from Bloomberg stated Apple's AR device would run a custom OS based on iOS called "rOS" for "reality operating system."
- The joint health-care venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan will be called Haven. The three companies announced the venture in January 2018 and named Dr. Atul Gawande as CEO last June. Haven will work with existing care providers and focus on helping employees of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan navigate the health care process.
- Airbnb announced plans to acquire the last minute booking site HotelsTonight. According to CEO Brian Chesky, the acquisition will allow the company to offer every guest an end-to-end booking experience, regardless of advance planning. The company reports that 90% first time bookings are for hotel rooms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Microsoft beat its big cloud provider competitors to opening a data center in South Africa. Huawei's is coming later this year and Amazon's is scheduled for 2020. Facilities in Cape Town and Johannesberg offer Azure Services, with Office 365 hosting arriving in Q3 with Dynamics 365 following in Q4. Also, Ars Technica notes that Microsoft is investing in a fiber network reaching Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and soon Angola.
- A blog post from Google’s Threat Analysis Group disclosed an unpatched local privilege escalation in Windows was being exploited in the wild in combination with a Google Chrome security flaw. The latest version of Chrome, released last Friday, fixes the Chrome side, but Google warned that users of Windows 7 and older version of Windows 10 were still at risk. The exploit effectively allows attackers to get around Chrome's native security sandboxing and run malicious code directly on the OS. Microsoft is working on a patch, and Chrome users must restart their browsers for the installed update to take effect.
- Microsoft began rolling out updates to the Skype web client. Users running Chrome or Edge browsers will be able to use HD calling, use call recording, view a revamped notification panel, and access an advanced media gallery.
Links
| Preceded by: "Mark Zuckerberg Outlines New Privacy-Focused Facebook" |
Amazon Stops Buying From Wholesalers |
Followed by: "Week in Review for the Week of 3/4/19" |