3bc0c09b_30_of_130___sorted_by__review___review
[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon [author] author Stone, Brad * [isbn] isbn 0316219266 [isbn13] isbn13 9780316219266 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 341 pp [avg rating] avg rating 3.91 [num ratings] num ratings 10,519 [date pub] date pub 2013 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Oct 15, 2013 [rating] Lucas's rating 4 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 0 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started Mar 27, 2014 [date read] date read Apr 02, 2014 [date added] date added Mar 27, 2014 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Hardcover [29] actions view [review] 
review Much much better than 'One-Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com'. For this book there were many interviews the author did, details on decision Much much better than 'One-Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com'. For this book there were many interviews the author did, details on decisions directly from the participants or at least witnesses in the same meeting. The Amazon founding mythology is somewhat burdensome in the retelling, I did learn here the door desks were brand new doors that cost $60 from Home Depot, which I suppose is less expensive that a new desk of moderate quality but I had earlier imagined the doors were dirt cheap surplus auction items. It isn't in this book, but the 'started in a garage' part of the story was deliberate strategy- the founders made sure their Bellevue rental house had a garage because 'started in a spare bedroom/home office' or even 'started in a basement' doesn't have the same cachet. The very low profit margins of the online retail business is commented on, and it isn't highlighted but I suspect the profit margins of web services is ultimately even lower- online data storage and web services are going to be like electricity and water eventually but with a much lower cost to customers to change providers (or more likely they'll automatically shift the load of their web site from one provider to another as changes in pricing and latencies and reliability dictate for optimal cost and performance, and software will smooth over any api differences between providers). But investors love low profits as long as technology and 'disruption' is involved. The chapter on the Jeff Bezos' space company is interesting, the author of this book originally broke the story on Blue Origin for Newsweek and had done some classic journalism to discover the company plans: they were on printouts in a dumpster, unshredded. At the end the author mentions that an Amazon set-top TV appliance will be available perhaps before the book is available, and that Amazon owned delivery vehicles may be expanded upon (they already exist for Amazon Fresh). What I'm really curious about is when they'll branch into urban mini-warehouses that advertise products to passing people via large non-electronic transparent display devices, and allow spontaneous purchases to be made at the warehouse from a selection of popular items without the hassle of having to browse the web. That could be a lot of money in that. ...more
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