Once a modest online seller of books, Amazon is now one of the largest companies in the world, and its former CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the world’s most wealthy person. We track developments, both of Bezos and Amazon, its growth as a video producer, the popular Prime service, as well as its own hardware, which includes the Amazon Kindle e-reader, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, and Amazon Fire TV streaming boxes.
Current AI spending means the industry needs $2 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, according to estimates from Bain & Co. That’s “more than five times the size of the entire global subscription software market,” write Eliot Brown and Robbie Whelan. But there’s a plan: 1. Build data centers. 2. ???? 3. Profit. Anyway, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now.
Amazon will pay $2.5 billion to settle a lawsuit with the FTC over how it handled Prime subscriptions and cancellations. But, would you believe it, the company says it and its executives “have always followed the law.” I guess it was just feeling generous!
swrobel:
Let me guess: it’s the ol’ “we admit no wrongdoing, but on an unrelated note, here’s $2.5B”
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
Every Monday, the app will create a themed playlist based on what you’ve listened to throughout the week. You can find the feature by heading to your library in the Amazon Music app and then finding the “Made for You” section.
Why Amazon AGI Labs chief David Luan thinks solving agents is the next ‘S-curve’ for AI.
Walmart Plus, Instacart, and your local grocery store have more competition now that Amazon is delivering perishable groceries in more places, with free delivery for Prime subscribers on orders of $25 or more.
It plans to reach more than 2,300 cities and towns this year, then keep expanding in 2026.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was certifying Amazon’s robotaxi service for demonstration purposes, while also ending the investigation into whether the company sidestepped safety regulations. The exemption was the first under NHTSA’s newly streamlined regulatory process for approving vehicles without traditional controls, like steering wheels and pedals. As part of the agreement, Zoox is required to “remove or obscure” all references to its purpose-built autonomous shuttles complying with federal motor vehicle safety regulations.
The company’s open-weight GPT-OSS models are now available on Amazon Web Services, letting customers access OpenAI models through the Bedrock and SageMaker platforms for the first time.
[aboutamazon.com]
As long as you live in Los Angeles, that is. The e-commerce giant is expanding its nascent Autos business to include used and certified pre-owned vehicles. Dealers can list their inventory on Amazon, where customers can browse the latest deals while shopping for toilet paper, groceries, and everything else they buy online. The company is promising stellar customer protections, including “a 3-day/300-mile return policy and a minimum 30 day/1,000-mile Limited Warranty on all vehicles.” Amazon is starting with Hyundai dealers, since it already has a preexisting deal with the Korean automaker. And from there it will grow to include other brands and cities.
