亞馬遜物聯網戰略逐漸成型

Amazon AMZN -0.66% today unveiled Dash Buttons, an easy way for customers to order select bulk goods via an internet-connected button, and yesterday launched Home Services, an on-demand installation and handyman service. Combined, they show that the e-commerce giant has a clear understanding of how the Internet-of-things will benefit its business. And it isn’t going to be shy about capitalizing on connectivity to build its bottom line.

4月1日，亞馬遜發佈了一鍵下單按鈕Dash Buttons，通過這款聯網的按鈕，消費者可以輕鬆預訂某種特定貨品。而就在之前一天，該公司推出了家庭服務平臺Home Services，顧客可以按需定製安裝、維修等服務。這兩項業務表明，作爲電子商務巨頭，亞馬遜已清楚認識到物聯網將給自身業務帶來怎樣的好處，並毫不猶豫地開始放手利用網絡互連來創造利潤。

Dash Buttons are an adaptation of Amazon’s voice-controlled Dash ordering system that lets people speak to order new grocery items, and will allow Amazon Prime members to order one item with the push of an WiFi-based connected button. Amazon has 17 brands (including Bounty and Tide) on board at launch, so folks can re-order their bulk goods with a button-click.

Dash Buttons按鈕是亞馬遜的聲控下單設備Dash的一個衍生品，支持用戶通過語音下單，訂購日雜商品，而且亞馬遜Prime會員只需輕輕一按以WiFi聯網的Dash Buttons，，即可訂購某種商品。這款剛剛問世的產品覆蓋了汰漬等17個品牌，只要按下相應的按鈕，用戶就可重複下單。

Amazon also has advertised a developer program that allows companies to build re-ordering buttons directly into their own hardware. Listed on that page are partners such as Whirlpool (re-order laundry supplies), Brother (ink and toner), Brita (water filters) and Quirky (which is launching a line of appliances including a fancy pour-ver coffee machine). An Amazon spokesman says the first Dash-enabled devices will start showing up in the fall.

此外，亞馬遜已經開始大肆宣傳其開發者項目。這個項目允許各廠商在自己的硬件產品裏直接內置重複下單按鈕。目前的合作伙伴包括惠而浦洗衣機（再訂購洗衣用品）、兄弟打印機（墨水和碳粉）、Brita淨水器和Quirky手衝咖啡機等產品。亞馬遜一位發言人表示，首批具有此項功能的產品將在今年秋季問世。

So what Amazon has is a retrofit strategy for connecting smart appliances to its e-commerce operations and a future-facing strategy for the coming flood of connected devices. And all of this is geared around making buying products from Amazon as easy as possible. The plan already was somewhat validated by the popular Internet-of-things startup If This Then That, which in February launched a one-button app that let users assign one task to a single button. For example, one of my one-button tasks was was posting a message to Slack whenever I left my desk.

也就是說，爲了應對未來大量聯網設備上市的浪潮，亞馬遜已經調整了戰略，以便將智能設備和其電商業務連接在一起。而所有這些都圍繞着一個核心，那就是儘量讓購物變得簡單。這項計劃在一定程度上已經被熱門物聯網創業公司If This Then That驗證過了: 今年2月, If This Then That推出了一款一鍵觸發應用，功能是讓用戶把一項任務綁定到一個按鍵或按鈕上。比如說，我綁定的一鍵任務之一是當我離開辦公桌後，在企業通信工具Slack上發佈提示信息。

The simplicity of one-button tasks are appealing, although it could lead to a mess of packages ending up at people’s doors if Amazon doesn’t try to minimize waste on its end, by grouping shipments together when possible. People on Twitter seem mostly concerned about pets and small children playing with the Dash Buttons and ordering multiples of their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese boxes, although Amazon notes that if the button is pressed more than once, the order doesn’t go through on the second time, and you’ll get a smartphone notification about it.

儘管一鍵下單的便捷性令人着迷，但是如果亞馬遜不設法減少終端的浪費、儘可能地合併發貨，這個功能或許會導致用戶家門口被雜亂的包裹堆滿。Twitter上的反應表明，人們最擔心家裏的寵物或小孩子亂動Dash Buttons，重複訂購卡夫通心粉或芝士粉等商品。但亞馬遜聲明，多次按動下單按鈕生成的訂單並不會即刻通過，用戶的智能手機將先收到相應的下單提示信息。

Amazon also recently launched Home Services, following up on last year’s opening of a home automation e-store devoted to connected gadgets for the home — many of which require a professional installer. So now Amazon can sell these devices along with the person who can install them.

另一項亞馬遜剛推出的Home Services服務也與它先前的業務有關。去年，亞馬遜建立了家庭自動化電子商鋪，旨在向家庭用戶出售聯網設備。而這些設備均需要由專業人士安裝。現在有了Home Services，亞馬遜在銷售這些設備的同時,也開始向用戶提供專業的安裝服務。

It also is focusing on maintenance, via a network of service providers that it can call on for its network of suppliers or for its own planned connected home play –something I’ve previously advised companies interested in the connected home to do as a way of closing the loop. Because while data and the algorithms that will be used to detect when there is actually a problem in the home are going to be an essential ingredient, we will still need the people on the ground to fix those problems for a long time to come.

這項服務的另一個重點是維修，它通過一個服務提供商網絡來實現，服務對象則包括亞馬遜的供應商及其計劃中的互聯家庭。此前我曾建議，有意於互聯家庭市場的企業可以這樣做，以便形成完整的業務鏈。我這樣說的原因在於，要想即時發現家裏出了問題，數據和算法固然必不可少，但在今後很長一段時間裏，仍需要有人來切實解決這些問題。

So far, Amazon is impressing me with its understanding of how the Internet-of-things can affect its business. With Dash, it’s making an offensive play to ring up more sales as devices come online. With Amazon Home Services, it’s making a defensive play as other large companies try to become more vertically integrated. My only question is where does the voice-activated Amazon Echo speaker fit into all of this? Is it, like the original Dash, more of a pilot devices designed to gather usage data to build other products, or is it an integral element for home control as I’m hoping?

截至目前，亞馬遜對物聯網將如何影響自身業務的理解讓人印象深刻。隨着各種設備開始聯網，亞馬遜可以藉助Dash硬件主動出擊，提升銷售額。同時，在其他大公司進一步進行業務垂直整合之際，Home Services讓亞馬遜有了抗擊打能力。對我來說，唯一的問題在於亞馬遜的語音助手硬件Echo怎樣和這些服務項目融合在一起？它是不是和原來的購物助手Dash一樣，更多地是一款引導性性產品，用於收集使用數據，以便製造其他產品？還是說，它和我希望的一樣，是智能家居控制中不可或缺的一環？