Amazon Dash has finally landed on British soil potentially changing the way we shop forever. Amazon Prime customers are now able to order household items without heading out to the shops or even heading online.
So far there are 48 ‘Dash’ buttons available to UK customers, products ranging from instant coffee, deodorant to nappies all at the simple push of a button. But how do they actually work? The button itself is Wi-Fi enabled and this then is connected to the Amazon shopping app on one of your smart devices, one push of the button triggers an order with Amazon and you can expect this at your doorstep within 24 hours. Amazon also announced the availability of Amazon Dash Replenishment Service (DRS) alongside the Dash launch. DRS is a cloud based service that allows device makers to enable their connected devices to automatically reorder physical goods from Amazon using a simple set of API’s.
The Dash buttons show Amazon’s increasing presence and development in the next big technology space to reach our homes, the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is a managed cloud platform that enables connected devices to easily and securely interact with other devices and cloud applications. Consider it as series of connected devices that look to automate tasks such as lights that respond to presence or timers or smart thermostats that save energy by only putting heating on when people are in the house. The idea behind IoT is to create a home where everything is connected to the internet, creating “swarm intelligence” from individually dumb devices. Dull household objects such as bins and washing machines will be able to talk to each other for automatic, more efficient control and monitoring.
Naturally there are differing opinions on Amazon’s increasing control on Web based services and our shopping behaviours. Is the introduction of these miraculous pieces of innovation key to our existence or another scary sign that the e-commerce giants are controlling yet another aspect of our lives?