Blog
Amazon’s product portfolio
14th August 2014
Amazon yet again launch a new product!"Amazon has released a smartphone and tablet add-on that can be used to swipe debit and credit cards to allow payments. The Local Register device is targeted at small businesses as an alternative to a cash-register system"http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28773906
This is great article for use in September for many business topics that maybe taught first in the new term! Enterprise, PEST (technology) Marketing strategy (Ansoff/Porter) etc
You could use this as a starter to introduce new topics to AS or to get A2 students thinking about what concepts from AS could be linked here? They sometimes forget some of the key things learnt at AS over the summer break!!
Amazon have spotted a gap in a growing market - "There is still a sizeable window for big brands to exploit in this space, and Amazon will be seeking to leverage the consumer trust it has to offer what is effectively a cash register to the small business market,"
Amazon is in a strong financial position and are able to utilise this to produce products quickly to enter the market, before any other big competitors. Its major competition Square- has yet to turn a product in its 5 year history according to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year!
The device is an excelent support for small businesses since - "The device plugs into a tablet or phone's headphone socket and costs $10, but buyers are reimbursed the sum in processing fees when they first use it. It works with recent iPhones, iPads, Samsung Galaxy S handsets and Kindle Fire tablets." The product is currently being launched for users with USA addresses.
However its not all sunny... for Amazon there have been some concerns about how quickly they are launching new products.. could they be expanding too fast???