Tag Archives: amzn

Amazon.com Turns Up Heat On Apple, Makes Spotify Easier On Echo

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) announced Thursday that it would make Spotify Premium — which has between 20 million and 25 million subscribers — available on its Echo speaker and Alexa virtual assistant. Spotify is an iTunes-like music streaming service for mobile and desktop. “Now playing your favorite music from Spotify is as easy as asking Alexa,” Toni Reid, Amazon Alexa director, said in a statement. “Music is one of the most popular features on Amazon Echo, and Spotify has been one of the most requested services, so we’re excited to bring it to our customers today.” Amazon.com stock was up a fraction in afternoon trading in the stock market today . Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal uncovered Amazon’s plans to build a beer-can-sized version of the Echo that will likely put pressure on other virtual personal assistant providers, such as Apple ( AAPL ) and its Siri. Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google also offer virtual personal assistants. Spotify was available on Echo prior to Thursday’s announcement, but it wasn’t seamless and required several steps to set up, according to Re/code .

Source Saying Amazon May Launch 400 Retail Bookstores Retracts

General Growth Properties ( GGP ) CEO Sandeep Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP’s earnings conference call Tuesday was not intended to represent Amazon’s plans, GGP said in a statement released after the close Wednesday. There was no further immediate information. Amazon.com ( AMZN ) has a goal of opening 300 to 400 brick-and-mortar stores “as I understand,” Mathrani said on that call Tuesday. The CEO of the shopping mall developer indicated in that call that Amazon’s plans may disrupt existing bookstore chains such as still-struggling Barnes & Noble ( BKS ). Amazon nor General Growth Properties have returned requests for comment. Despite the problems that Barnes & Noble and other large chain stores are having, the New York Times reported that independent booksellers are experiencing sales growth in “many parts of the country, showing how reluctant some book fans have been to give up browsing store shelves.” Amazon’s first bookstore, opened in the University Village shopping mall in Seattle, features thousands of books — at the same price as on Amazon’s website — as well as some of the gadgets that Amazon produces, including the Kindle tablet, Fire TV and Echo virtual assistant. The Times also reported that Amazon re-hired Jennifer Cast, an early executive and confidant of CEO Jeff Bezos, to preside over the bookstore in Seattle. Amazon-owned footwear business Zappos also has experimented with retail stores in the U.S.

This FANG Stock Just Tripped A Very Bearish Signal

Loading the player… FANG stocks Facebook ( FB ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Netflix ( NFLX ) and Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ) are all falling in heaving volume in the stock market today . Amazon is now tripping a bearish signal, shortly after the e-commerce giant’s quarterly report missed analyst expectations. Wall Street’s disappointment comes even as Amazon has continued to make outsized market share gains, posting a new record for annual sales and its largest profit in at least four years. But shares closed down 3.8% in heavy volume on Wednesday, dropping below the critical 200-day line in intraday trade for the first time in about a year. The stock has pared some of its losses, but unless Amazon can close the session above the line, that’s a bearish signal. It’s now more than 20% below its high reached in December. Fellow FANG stock Netflix has been trading below its 200-day line for several weeks now. On Wednesday, the stock finished 0.8% lower. After reversing lower from a new high in Tuesday’s session, Facebook is falling for a second day in big volume, threatening to round-trip from its recent breakout. Shares ended Wednesday down 1.7%. Google parent Alphabet fell 4% in heavy turnover and undercut the 50-day line after retaking that level last Friday. It’s now 7.5% below its intraday high reached in Tuesday’s session after the Alphabet’s strong Monday night earnings report.