Amazon.com Inc is dominating the nascent market for voice-controlled speakers, research firm eMarketer said on Monday. The e-commerce giant's Amazon Echo and Echo Dot devices will claim a 70.6 percent share of the U.S. market this year, the study found. The speakers feature Alexa, Amazon's voice-controlled aide, which users can tell to play music, order an Uber or turn on the house lights. That puts it far ahead of Alphabet Inc's Google Home, a similar gadget that has a 23.8 percent share, and less successful offerings from other tech companies. The number of active U.S. users will more than double for the devices this year, to 35.6 million, eMarketer said. The report underscores Amazon's progress in making Alexa and its speech-recognition technology an integral part of customers' lives. More users means more data that can improve Alexa's understanding and could make it a top platform for voice, like Windows is for desktop. Amazon does not disclose Echo sales figures but has said it … [Read more...] about Amazon sweeps U.S. market for voice-controlled speakers: study
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Vietnamese prefer to shop on e-Bay, Amazon, Alibaba
VietNamNet Bridge - Cross-border e-commerce (CBE) is deleting traditional trade boundaries, and creating equal opportunities for distributors and retailers. A survey by the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) in 2016 found that 32 percent of Vietnam’s import/export companies established business relations with foreign partners through online channels, 11 percent participate in international e-marketplaces and 49 percent have websites. Of the import/export companies which have websites, 46 percent use ‘.vn’ domain name, 54 percent international domain names and 63 percent of websites have versions in foreign languages. CBE now makes up 21 percent of total e-commerce turnover in the globe. In China alone, the CBE revenue exceeded the VND1 trillion threshold in 2016 while it has been witnessing the 30 percent growth rate on average since 2008. There are no official statistics about Vietnam’s CBE, but analysts say the situation is … [Read more...] about Vietnamese prefer to shop on e-Bay, Amazon, Alibaba
‘Moonlight’ director to film slavery drama for Amazon
Moonlight director Barry Jenkins says he’s excited to adapt The Underground Railroad for the screen. —AFP/VNA Photo Viet Nam News NEW YORK — Director Barry Jenkins, whose movie Moonlight won this year’s best picture Oscar, is writing and directing a drama for Amazon based on a prize-winning novel about escaping from slavery. The Underground Railroad will be adapted from the book of the same name by novelist Colson Whitehead. The novel has sold over 825,000 copies and won a National Book Award, one of America’s most prestigious literary prizes. Inspired by the historic secret network of routes that allowed slaves to reach freedom in the North in the 18th century, the novel tells the story of young African American Cora’s escape from a Georgia plantation. She finds not a metaphorical but an actual railroad in operation beneath Southern soil. Jenkins, 37, said he was excited to be working with such rich literary material. "Colson’s … [Read more...] about ‘Moonlight’ director to film slavery drama for Amazon
Amazon.com wins $1.5 billion tax dispute over IRS
Amazon.com Inc on Thursday won a more than $1.5 billion tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over transactions involving a Luxembourg unit more than a decade ago. Judge Albert Lauber of the U.S. Tax Court rejected a variety of IRS arguments, and found that on several occasions the agency abused its discretion, or acted arbitrarily or capriciously. Amazon's ultimate tax liability from the decision was not immediately clear. The world's largest online retailer has said the case involved transactions in 2005 and 2006, and could boost its federal tax bill by $1.5 billion plus interest. It also said a loss could add "significant" tax liabilities in later years. Amazon made just $2.37 billion of profit in 2016, four times what it made in the four prior years combined, on revenue of $136 billion. Lauber's decision "should shield Amazon from potentially significant tax obligations to the IRS covering years beyond the ones covered in the lawsuit," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at … [Read more...] about Amazon.com wins $1.5 billion tax dispute over IRS
Amazon to expand counterfeit removal program in overture to sellers
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is expanding a program to remove counterfeit goods from its website this spring as part of a broader push to assure brand owners that the online retailer is an ally rather than a threat. As early as next month, any brand can register its logo and intellectual property with Amazon so the e-commerce company can take down listings and potentially seller accounts when counterfeits are flagged, Peter Faricy, vice president of Amazon Marketplace, said in an interview on Monday. The so-called brand registry, which had been in a test phase, will be widely available for free in North America, Faricy said ahead of his presentation on Tuesday at the Shoptalk commerce conference in Las Vegas. The move reflects Amazon's efforts to court increasingly important third-party sellers. The Seattle-based company takes a commission for retail transactions it enables, and it sells lucrative fulfillment and advertising services to third parties. Counterfeiters have sold faulty or … [Read more...] about Amazon to expand counterfeit removal program in overture to sellers