Like It Or Not, Amazon Is Now A Tech Leader

Investors like to put companies into boxes.

In one box, you have the auto companies. In another, you have utilities. And in another there’s retail.

As an eCommerce platform, Amazon is supposed to fit squarely in the retail box. But when you look a little more closely at the company, you soon realize that description is wholly inadequate. Amazon sells products – no doubt about it – but bundling the company in with the likes of Kroger just doesn’t seem right.

Some commentators argue that Amazon is not a big tech company on cultural grounds. They compare the mission statement of Jeff Bezos’ company to that of the traditional big tech players and highlight the obvious differences. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all talk about their visions for a future world of abundance where people can connect with all the information they need at virtually zero cost. Amazon, by contrast, just talks about consumers. When the customer wins, Amazon wins. The consumer is god. There’s no grand vision for humanity.

This definition of a company on cultural grounds is admirable, but it’s both false and misses the point. While Amazon worships consumers and squeezes sellers and suppliers, it doesn’t ignore technology at all. In many ways, the company is driving it.

The Cloud

Ten years ago, Amazon had the vision to realize that cloud computing was going to take off in a big way. The company began building out massive server farms, “front-loading” its investments in anticipation of the enormous demand just around the corner.

Soon, the demand for server space ramped up, and Amazon was there to provide it, from day one, with no lag. Companies all over the world could migrate to AWS, sweeping away decades of expensive IT in the process. It was the most significant change in computing in the last decade, and it came from an eCommerce company, not one of the traditional tech players.

Amazon Gadgets

Before it began selling anything and everything, Amazon was a book store. And for that reason, the company likes to pay homage to its legacy now and then by releasing a new e-book reader. It is not the most cutting edge technology, but these devices serve a market that nobody else tapped into, despite having the tech to do so. Amazon deserves credit for that.

Warehouse Innovations

Then there are the massive changes spurred by Amazon in the warehouse sector. Aside from a couple of eCommerce firms in the far east, Amazon has pretty much single-handedly spearheaded warehouse automation. It acquired Kiva robotics several years ago and showed that you could automate vast tracts of the fulfillment process in a way that people never thought possible. The firm is likely to continue upgrading this technology over the coming decade. Put simply, we probably haven’t seen anything yet.

We could go into other examples, like Amazon’s cashier-less store project, but you get the point. Amazon is driving technology forward, even if it has a different attitude from mainstream Silicon Valley firms.

Credits to free-to-use images:
Image 1 by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay – CC0 License
Image 2 by Free-Photos from Pixabay – CC0 License
Image 3 by Pexels from Pixabay – CC0 License