Bezos had gone on record many times as saying that Amazon tries out a lot of things on their site(s), and then gauges reaction to them based on usage. He talks about how inexpensive it is to test something new because you can just put it out there.
Over the years, I've found Amazon becoming more and more cluttered. I find myself becoming blind to useful new features because they are hidden in amongst blogs, plogs, video testimonials, recommendation, lions and tigers and bears.
In aerospace, there's the notion of new displays "buying their way into the cockpit", which is not about money, but about being worthwhile enough to share the valuable real estate with other displays. There is an acknowledgement that the existing displays will either get smaller or viewed less or both.
I'd be interested in hearing how he thinks about the fracturing of attention that occurs when there is so stuff on Amazon's pages. There's a real cost associated with that, and it feels like Amazon is not paying attention to it at all.
I find that Amazon is getting better all the time. Eg. the recommendation system is like "magic" - the books it recommends are actually highly relevant to me.
I really like this point. I use Amazon a fair bit, but I wish there was a way for me to turn off half the stuff on their page. Recommendations, "users also bought" etc are not things I care about 90% of the time.
Most people aren't laser-focused they're on Amazon - it's more like browsing in a store. Why do you think shopping is considered an activity instead of a task? If they're doing micro-testing, I can guarantee they only keep the features that increase browsing, time spent, dollars spent, etc. If it hits the mainstream, it's because testing proved it increased the metrics Amazon cares about.
Are they planning to provide a good portal/software management for all their offerings (S3/EC2 etc.). Why do most of the hard part, but just not care about the last touch; the way a user interacts with them?
Their offerings are awesome, but they need to improve the interface with them, and make them more user friendly.
Yes. And there is scalr too, but it would have been much better if Amazon provided a very robust solution themselves, as they know their systems better than anybody else.
Then Google's app engine would really pale in comparison to Amazon's offering. Right now google is providing an engine that scales up, and which is very easy to get started (their main advantage), but the downside you have to be tied to a very cripled enviroment.
If Amazon provided the glue that sticks all their offerings into one comprehensive package that is easy to use that this would be the best of both worlds.
Who would even use google's app engine where you can have great scalability, easy to use, and have your own linux systems running on Amazon?
But everyone asks this question, and the response is always the same. You can ask a question like this if you're getting a written response, but when you're asking someone to immediately think of things in person and then justify them on the spot, it doesn't work well.
What is Amazon's strategy around an offering (EC2/S3) that wouldn't be subject to the PATRIOT act for those of us who aren't American? (ie the rest of the world)
One of the biggest gaps to me using AWS as a Canadian is that I would face a firestorm of crap for storing personal information that could be mined at the whims of US services.
Any plans to open/license S3 to someone in Canada or the EU?
What is Amazon's strategy regarding digital media sales? Their MP3 store is built around open standards, but Unbox video is tightly DRMed and doesn't even run on Macs, and their Kindle books only work on a single, closed device. Is this all purely tactical based on the individual markets? Do they have a long-term vision for how digital media ought to work?
Not sure about Unbox, but Kindle is just doing what the iTunes did - start out locked so that media owners agree to get on board, then once they're addicted to your revenue stream, then you can pry some openness out of them if you want (or any other concession for that matter).
In all honesty, if you have ever wondered what to do about the cycles and storage that went unused or underused in your datacenters (and the effect of said on operating profit and loss), I have to wonder who wouldn't have come up with it eventually.
Amazon came up with a way to rent supercomputing facilities to people outside of academia, and continue to refine the offerings. I'm a little surprised it took this long, but that could just be a reflection of Amazon being the first to get it mostly-right for a maturing market.
I'd be more interested in their thought process in terms of "OK, we can offer this, but it's too risky to offer that, and a waste of time to implement that..." That could be enlightening.
I usually do not ask celebrities about their work. it quickly puts you in the "eager follower category" and gives you little chance of getting outside of that. I think i would ask Jeff what his favorite beer was, and if you could take him out for one sometime. I suggest just talking to him like a friend. You will have time for work later.
Are they interested in adding features like global availability zone regions, private availability zones, various security compliance (PCI, CISP, etc...)?
Over the years, I've found Amazon becoming more and more cluttered. I find myself becoming blind to useful new features because they are hidden in amongst blogs, plogs, video testimonials, recommendation, lions and tigers and bears.
In aerospace, there's the notion of new displays "buying their way into the cockpit", which is not about money, but about being worthwhile enough to share the valuable real estate with other displays. There is an acknowledgement that the existing displays will either get smaller or viewed less or both.
I'd be interested in hearing how he thinks about the fracturing of attention that occurs when there is so stuff on Amazon's pages. There's a real cost associated with that, and it feels like Amazon is not paying attention to it at all.