Wednesday was a big day for Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), with the company making headlines for three separate pieces of news.
The first headline was the announcement that its popular Amazon Prime Video service is now going global. People in more than 200 countries can now watch Amazon Prime Video. Previously it was only available to Prime customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.
Like Netflix, its big competitor in video streaming, Amazon has been investing heavily in its own programs rather than depending on content from traditional sources.
The second piece of Amazon news is the company has made a delivery using a drone. A customer in Cambridge, England ordered a bag of popcorn and an Amazon Fire TV. Only 13 minutes after the order was completed, both items were dropped off in the customer’s backyard, via drone.
It’ll still be a while until drone delivery is common, but be prepared. It is coming.
And finally, both Amazon and the Wynn hotel in Vegas announced the property would be buying nearly 5,000 Amazon Echo devices. One will be installed in each room by summer, 2017.
Guests will be able to use voice commands to do things like open the blinds, turn on the lights, or change the room’s temperature.
Spending money on Echo systems may end up saving Wynn money in the long run. The hotel is big enough it likely has dozens of staff members who spend a lot of time helping guests with pretty basic stuff like how to work the curtains or thermostat.
Investors are shrugging off today’s news, sending Amazon shares down just 0.11%, or $0.86 each.
