Amazon bans the sales of the Apple TV and Google Chromecast.

Video

Amazon has decided to ban the sales of the Google Chromecast and the Apple TV from its website. The online retailer sent all of its marketplace sellers an email saying it would stop with the offering of the video-steaming products. They announced that no new listings will be allowed and that all inventory will be removed the 29^th of October.

Amazon claims the ban has to do with the compatibleness of these devices with the Prime Video service, Amazon’s version of Netflix. This service isn’t easy accessible through the devices of Google and Apple. The decision to ban these products underscores Amazon’s dedication to put more effort in its home-grown hardware, such as the video streaming service. Over the last three years Prime Video has become more and more important to Amazon, and they find it important to sell steaming-media players that interact with this service they offer. They believe it can cause customer confusion to sell devices that do not support their service.

However, there is also being said Amazon bans these products because these two companies are the company’s biggest competitors when it comes to steaming TV. Some people are saying it is up to Amazon itself, to make their service compatible with the devices of Apple and Google. This will simply be possible by creating an app for the devices. The incentive for Amazon to do so, seems quite obvious. Amazon spent an enormous amount of money building op there service Prime Video, and is probably concerned that these competitors could threaten the rise of this new media.

The ban is announced just before the start of the holiday season, the period when retailer make the most money. Banning the steaming devices of Google and Apple means they will ban two of the most popular products form their webstore. Which will probably result in a loss in sales not only for Apple and Google, but for Amazon as well.  Although Amazon claims they have other excellent choices present in their shop, which will allow you to stream content on your TV, we still expect a significant loss in sales in this division. Experts believe this will also have a bad influence on Amazon’s long term results. Amazon is known as a store where everything is available, this will no longer be the case. Furthermore, it can occur that Amazon itself isn’t able to offer the specific service customers want and they cannot profit from the sales of its competitors anymore.

Author: Jessica Dooper (358278)

References:
http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-to-stop-selling-google-chromecast-apple-tv/ [04/10/2015]
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-01/amazon-will-ban-sale-of-apple-google-video-streaming-devices %5B04/10/2015%5D
http://fortune.com/2015/10/02/amazon-chromecast-apple/ %5B04/10/2015%5D
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/2/9439281/amazon-ban-apple-tv-chromecast-why %5B04/10/2015%5D

The ultimate form of Customer Relationship Management, The Salesforce IoT Cloud

Last Tuesday Salesforce announced the launch of its IoT (Internet of Things) cloud. Salesforce is a company that offers customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to other firms, to get an insight in their leads, contacts and activities to ultimately raise their revenues. (Salesforce.com, 2015)

With the new IoT cloud Salesforce offers, companies can make use of the Internet of Things and the data produced by clients, partners and all electronic devices and sensors. The IoT cloud will allow them to process an enormous amount of data and make use of that to proactively respond on customers demand. (Salesforce.com, 2015)

The cloud connects all devices, sensors, websites and other forms of interactions with Salesforce to create an overview of the clients of a firm, and give them a good indication of the customers needs. With simple and intuitive tools, business users can process the data offered to filter the important events and proactively respond to them.  Ultimately Salesforce IoT will allow its users to improve the customers experience. (Salesforce.com, 2015)

The IoT cloud makes use of Salesfoce’s Thunder, which is world’s most scalable event process engine, designed to connect billions of events and process them real-time. Thunder allows companies to gets insights in aspects of their business, that were invisible before. All of this will create opportunities to further improve the customer experience. (Salesforce.com, 2015)

With the new cloud, Salesforce is turning the internet of things into the internet of customers, CEO Marc Benioff said during a conference in San Francisco.  Big Data is providing a big opportunity for companies these days, the Salesforce IoT cloud will help these companies to explore these opportunities and respond to them. (Ecommercetimes.com, 2015)

I believe the Salesforce IoT cloud is a great example of how a company can make use of big data to improve their business. However, a lot of companies are still sceptical about the use of “big data” and “cloud computing”, not seeing it as an addition or even pillar of their strategy.  Which is a waste, because it allows you to get to know your own customers so much more in-depth, that makes be believe it creates chances for all companies in all sorts of industries.

Author: Jessica Dooper (358278jd)

Sources:

https://www.salesforce.com/nl/form/sem/landing/sales-cloud.jsp?d=70130000000tYju&DCMP=KNC-Google&keyword=salesforce&adused=75782668110&mkwid=su9wtPKOa&pcrid=75782668110&pkw=salesforce&pmt=e&pdv=c [Accessed 19 Sep. 2015].

http://www.salesforce.com/nl/iot-cloud/ [Accessed 19 Sep. 2015].

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Salesforce-IoT-Cloud-Makes-Thunderous-Debut-82492.html [Accessed 19 Sep. 2015].