Amazon CEO Talks Wireless, Tablets and Eclectic Business Strategy
By Karla Robinson
September 11, 2012
September 11, 2012
- In an interview with AllThingsD, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos discusses the company’s eclectic business strategy that ranges from offering Web services to selling apparel.
- “Our approach is, if we have a good idea, and if it’s something we think customers would care about, like AWS or Kindle Fire, then we don’t ask why do this, we ask why not do this?” says Bezos. “We have a high bar for doing those things. We don’t want to do me-too things. The people we’ve attracted over time to Amazon want to be pioneers. They want to be inventors. They want to do new things.”
- Amazon has created its own approach to making a profit while offering cheap services and devices — an approach that Bezos admits doesn’t work for every company.
- “In my view, you set up the business in a way that is aligned with the customer, or you can set it up in odds with the customer. When you have the option, you should figure out a way to be in alignment,” he explains, adding the make-money-up-front or make-it-up-on-the-backend approaches may work best for others.
- Amazon has taken on expensive endeavors, like its Amazon Prime service and Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, both of which the company has spent millions to license while offering customers a low price.
- “Despite what some have said from time to time, Amazon is a for-profit business,” says Bezos. “So, we looked at some numbers, and we believed that this would be a good program for customers and for Amazon — that’s the alignment I’m talking about.”
- “These devices are not very useful unless they are connected to the Internet,” he notes, regarding wireless. “The whole point is to connect to the Internet, and that means Wi-Fi. Even for 4G, you want Wi-Fi.”
- “This year, we wanted to build the best tablet at any price,” Bezos concludes. “Take away the price and it’s still the best tablet. It also happens to be only $499.”
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