Amazon. com, Inc.
Type	Public (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Founded	1994
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington, United States
Key people	Jeff Bezos, founder, president, CEO, chairman Tom Szkutak, senior VP/CFO Werner Vogels, VP/CTO
Industry	Retail
Products	Amazon. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964) is the founder president chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon Tom Szkutak is Chief Financial Officer (CFO and senior vice president at Amazon Dr Werner Vogels is the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Amazon For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need com A9.com Alexa Internet IMDb
Revenue	▲ US$14. A9com, which went live on April 14, 2004, is an Internet Search engine from Amazon Alexa Internet Inc is a California -based Subsidiary company of Amazon In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 84 billion (2007)
Net income	▲ US$476 million (2007)
Employees	17,000 (2007)
Slogan	"…and you're done"
Website	www.amazon.com
Type of site	e-commerce
Advertising	web banners and videos
Available in	English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese
Launched	1995

Amazon. Net income is equal to the Income that a firm has after subtracting costs and Expenses from the total Revenue. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A slogan is a memorable Motto or Phrase used in a Political, commercial, Religious and other context as a repetitive expression of A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce' or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic Online advertising is a form of Advertising that uses the Internet and World Wide Web in order to deliver Marketing messages and attract customers A web banner or banner ad is a form of Advertising on the World Wide Web. Video is the technology of electronically capturing, Recording, processing storing transmitting and reconstructing a sequence of Still images A human language is a Language primarily intended for communication among Humans The two major categories of human languages are Natural languages and com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American electronic commerce (e-commerce) company in Seattle, Washington. The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce' or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods by Internet, and was an iconic "stock in which to invest" of the late 1990s dot-com bubble. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks The " dot-com bubble " (or sometimes the " IT bubble " was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 (with a climax on March 10 After the collapse, the public became skeptical about Amazon's business model, yet, it turned an annual profit in 2003.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon. Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964) is the founder president chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon com, Inc. in 1994, and launched it online in 1995. Amazon. com started as an on-line bookstore, but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs, MP3 format, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a Digital audio encoding format using a form of Lossy data compression A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Consumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather Furniture is the Mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body (seating furniture and beds, provide storage or hold objects on horizontal Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Japan. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. It also provides global shipping to certain countries for some of its products.

History and business model

Amazon was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimization framework", his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush. ^[1] Company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove from Fort Worth, Texas to Bellevue, Washington,^[2] a story largely apocryphal, say early employees. Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventeenth-largest city in the United States. Bellevue ( "BELL-view") is a rapidly growing city in King County, Washington, U

The company began as an online bookstore named "Cadabra. com", a name quickly abandoned for sounding like "cadaver";^[2] while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores and mail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore could offer more. A cadaver or corpse is a dead Body. "Cadaver" is normally used as a more formal term for a body being used in medical training or research Brick and mortar (B&M refers to a company which possesses a building for operations Mail order is a term which describes the Buying of goods or services by Mail delivery Bezos renamed the company "Amazon" after the world's biggest river. The Amazon River (Rio Amazonas Río Amazonas of South America is the largest river in the world by volume with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers Since 2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing the desire to sell many products. ^[3]

In 1994, the company incorporated in the state of Washington, beginning service in July 1995, and was reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Delaware ( is a state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The first book Amazon. com sold was Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15 1945 in New York New York) is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness thinking and creativity Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought is a 1995 book by Douglas Hofstadter and other members of the Fluid Analogies ^[4] Amazon. com issued its initial public offering of stock on May 15, 1997, trading under the NASDAQ stock exchange symbol AMZN, at an IPO price of US$18. Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 00 a share (U. S. $1. 50 after three stock splits in the late 1990s). A stock split or stock divide increases the number of shares in a Public company.

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years; the strategy was effective. A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals the reasons why they are believed attainable and the plan for reaching those goals Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s while other Internet companies grew blindingly fast. Amazon's "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints: that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and, finally, turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2002: U. The " dot-com bubble " (or sometimes the " IT bubble " was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 (with a climax on March 10 S. $5 million, just 1¢ a share, on revenues of more than U. S. $1 billion, but the profit was symbolically important.

The company remains profitable: 2003 net income was U. Net income is equal to the Income that a firm has after subtracting costs and Expenses from the total Revenue. S. $35. 3 million, U. S. $588. 50 million in 2004, U. S. $359 million in 2005, and U. S. $190 million in 2006 (including a U. S. $662 million charge for R&D in 2006), nevertheless, the firm's cumulative profits remain negative. The phrase research and development (also R and D or more often R&D) according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers As of September 2007, the accumulated deficit stood at U. S. $1. 58 billion. Revenues increased thanks to product diversification and an international presence: US$3. 9 billion in 2002, U. S. $5. 3 billion in 2003, U. S. $6. 9 billion in 2004, U. S. $8. 5 billion in 2005, and U. S. $10. 7 billion in 2006. On November 21, 2005, Amazon entered the S&P 500 index, replacing AT&T after it merged with SBC Communications. Events 164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family restores the Temple in Jerusalem. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The S&P 500 is a Stock market index containing the stocks of 500 Large-Cap Corporations all of which are from the United States. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and

In 1999, Time Magazine named Bezos Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing on-line shopping. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States Newsmagazine Time that features and profiles Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet.

Merchant partnerships

The Web site CDNOW (cdnow. CDNOWcom was among the first successful global online retailers com) is powered and hosted by Amazon. Until June 30, 2006, typing ToysRUs. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Toys "R" Us ( currently typeset as Toys Я Us in the logo and before as Toys "Я" Us) is a Toy store chain based com into a browser would similarly bring up Amazon. com's Toys & Games tab; however, this relationship was terminated as the result of a lawsuit. ^[5]

Amazon. com powers and operates retail web sites for Target, Sears Canada, Sears UK, Benefit Cosmetics (US and UK), Bebe Stores, Timex Corporation, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, Lacoste and Bombay Company (now defunct). Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 Sears Canada Inc ( (more commonly referred to as "Sears" is a Retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces Bebe stores (pronounced Bee-Bee is an American Clothing retailer founded in 1976 by the Iranian born Manny Mashouf, who emigrated to the Timex Group BV is the parent of Timex Group USA Inc The latter is located in Middlebury Connecticut, and began in 1854 as Waterbury Marks & Spencer Group plc (also M&S, Marks and Sparks, and Marks) is a British Retailer with 843 stores in more than 30 Mothercare plc ( is a British Retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old Lacoste is a French Apparel company founded in 1933 that sells High-end Clothing, Footwear, Perfume, leather The Bombay Company was a Furniture and home accessories retailer based in Fort Worth Texas, United States. For a growing number of enterprise clients, currently including the UK merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unified multichannel platform from whence a customer can interchangeably interact with the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, and phone-based customer service agents. Amazon Web Services also powers AOL's Shop@AOL. The Amazon Web Services (AWS are a collection of remote computing services (also called Web services offered over the Internet by Amazon

Locations

Headquarters

Amazon. com's headquarters in PacMed building (Beacon Hill, Seattle)

The company's global headquarters is located on Seattle, Washington's Beacon Hill. It has offices throughout other parts of greater Seattle including Union Station and The Columbia Center. Union Station is a Train station built in Seattle Washington, USA from 1910 to 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road The Columbia Center (formerly the Bank of America Tower and the Columbia Seafirst Center) is the tallest Skyscraper in the downtown

Amazon has announced plans to move its headquarters to the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle beginning in mid-2010, with full occupancy by 2011. South Lake Union is a Neighborhood in Seattle Washington, so named because it is at the south tip of Lake Union. This move will consolidate all Seattle employees onto the new 11-building campus.

Software development centers

The company employs software developers in medium- to large-sized centers across the globe. International locations include:

• Slough (England)
• Edinburgh (Scotland)
• Dublin(Ireland)
• Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad (India)
• Cape Town (South Africa)
• Iaşi (Romania)
• Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan) (closed in 2005)
• Beijing (China)

Fulfillment and warehousing

Fulfillment centers are located in the following cities, often near airports:

• North America:

• Arizona, USA: Phoenix
• Delaware, USA: New Castle
• Indiana, USA: Whitestown
• Kansas, USA: Coffeyville
• Kentucky, USA: Campbellsville, Hebron (near CVG), Lexington, and Louisville
• Nevada, USA: Fernley and Red Rock (near 4SD)
• Pennsylvania, USA: Carlisle, Chambersburg, Hazleton, and Lewisberry
• Texas, USA: Dallas/Fort Worth
• Ontario, Canada: Mississauga (a Canada Post facility)

• Europe:

Amazon. Slough ( ˈslaʊ is a Borough and Unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Bangalore ( officially Bengaluru ( Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Iaşi (pronunciation in Romanian: /jaʃʲ/ or Jassy, is a city and municipality in north-eastern Romania. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008 it had an estimated Population of 208371 and a density of 13540 persons officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Phoenix (ˈfiːˌnɪks O'odham Skikik, Yavapai Wasinka, Western Apache Fiinigis, Navajo Hoozdo, Delaware ( is a state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, six miles (10 km south of Wilmington, situated on the Delaware River, at the head The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Whitestown is a town in Worth Township, Boone County, Indiana, United States. Kansas ( is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American " The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Coffeyville is a City situated along the Verdigris River in the southeastern part of Montgomery County, located in Southeast Kansas The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Campbellsville is a city in Taylor County, Kentucky, United States. Hebron is an unincorporated community in Boone County, Kentucky, United States. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is located in Hebron, unincorporated Boone County, Kentucky, United States and serves the Lexington (officially Lexington-Fayette Urban County is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 68th largest in the United States. Nevada ( is a state located in the western region of the United States of America. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Fernley is a city in Lyon and Washoe counties in the US state of Nevada. Reno/Stead Airport is a large General aviation Airport located in the North Valleys area 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the Central business The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Carlisle is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles (29 km west by southwest of Harrisburg, the State capital Chambersburg is a borough in Pennsylvania, United States It is miles north of Maryland and the Mason-Dixon line and southwest of Harrisburg Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. Lewisberry is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington metropolitan area, a title designated by the U Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Mississauga (ˌmɪsɪˈsɑgə) incorporated in 1974 is a City located in the Regional Municipality of Peel Canada Post Corporation ( Société canadienne des postes) is the Canadian postal operator operated as a crown corporation. co. uk warehouse, Glenrothes

• Munster, Ireland: Cork
• Bedfordshire, England, UK: Marston Gate
• Inverclyde, Scotland, UK: Gourock
• Fife, Scotland, UK: Glenrothes
• Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK: Jersey Marine^[6]
• Loiret, France: Orléans-Boigny (2000),
• Loiret, France: Orléans-Saran (2007),
• Hesse, Germany: Bad Hersfeld
• Saxony, Germany: Leipzig

• Asia:

• Chiba, Japan
• Guangzhou, China
• Shanghai, China
• Beijing, China

Product lines

Amazon has steadily branched into retail sales of music CDs, videotapes and DVDs, software, consumer electronics, kitchen items, tools, lawn and garden items, toys & games, baby products, apparel, sporting goods, gourmet food, jewelry, watches, health and personal-care items, beauty products, musical instruments, industrial & scientific supplies, groceries, and more. Munster ( Irish: An Mhumhain, ənˈvuːnʲ Cúige Mumhan or Mumha) is the southernmost of the four Provinces of Ireland. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Cork (Corcaigh is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland 's third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast Bedfordshire (abbreviated Beds) is a County in England that forms part of the East of England region. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Inverclyde ( Gaelic: Inbhir Chluaidh, iɲɪɾʲˈxɫ̪uəj is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Gourock ( Gaelic Guireag (pimple shaped or rounded g̊uɾʲag̊ is a Burgh in Inverclyde, Scotland. Fife ( Gaelic: Fìobha) is a Council area of Scotland, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Glenrothes is a former new town situated in the heart of Fife, in east central Scotland. Geography The majority of the population of Neath Port Talbot resides in the developed areas along corridors surrounding the M4 Motorway / South Wales Main Line The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Jersey Marine is a Village in Neath Port Talbot County borough, Wales, UK located about 3 Miles east of Swansea Loiret is a department in north-central France named after the Loiret River. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. This article is about the French city of Orléans for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation. Loiret is a department in north-central France named after the Loiret River. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. This article is about the French city of Orléans for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation. Hesse (Hessen is a state of Germany with an area Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Bad Hersfeld is a Spa town and the capital of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in the north-eastern region of Hesse, Germany. The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong WikipediaWikiProject Japanese prefectures for guidelines--> is a prefecture of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Guangzhou ( Jyutping: Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu) is the Capital and a Sub-provincial city China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Shanghai ( 上[[wikt 海|海]] is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest urban areas in the world with over 20 million China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical A garden is a planned space usually outdoors set aside for the display cultivation and enjoyment of Plants and other forms of Nature. This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal Ornament, such as a necklace ring or bracelet made from Gemstones A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person The term now usually refers to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist with a strap or Bracelet. Health care is the prevention treatment and management of illness and the preservation of mental health through the services offered by the medical, Nursing A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music.

The company launched Amazon. com Auctions, its own Web auctions service, in March 1999. However it failed to chip away at industry pioneer eBay's juggernaut growth. eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and Amazon Auctions was followed by the launch of a fixed-price marketplace business called zShops in September 1999, and a failed Sotheby's/Amazon partnership called sothebys. Amazoncom Inc ( is an American electronic commerce ( E-commerce) company in Seattle Washington. Sotheby's ( is the world's second oldest Auction house in continuous operation (the oldest being Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674 amazon. com in November.

Amazon no longer mentions either Auctions or zShops on its main pages and the help page for sellers now only mentions the Marketplace. ^[7] Old links to zShop ([1]) now simply redirect to the Amazon home page, while old links to Auctions ([2]) take users to a transactions history page. New product listings are no longer possible for either service.

Although zShops failed to live up to its expectations, it laid the groundwork for the hugely successful Amazon Marketplace service launched in 2001 that let customers sell used books, CDs, DVDs, and other products alongside new items. Amazon Marketplace is Amazoncom 's fixed-price online marketplace that allows sellers to offer their goods alongside Amazon's offerings Today, Amazon Marketplace's main rival is eBay's Half.com service. Halfcom is a subsidiary of EBay, in which sellers offer items at fixed prices usually items that have a UPC, ISBN or other kind of SKU

Beginning August 2005,^[8] Amazon began selling products under its own private label, "Pinzon"; the initial trademark applications suggested the company intended to focus on textiles, kitchen utensils, and other household goods. Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's Brand. ^[8] In March 2007, the company applied to expand the trademark to cover a larger and more diverse list of goods, and to register a new design consisting of the "word PINZON in stylized letters with a notched letter O whose space appears at the "one o'clock" position. ". ^[9] The list of products registered for coverage by the trademark grew to include items such as paints, carpets, wallpaper, hair accessories, clothing, footwear, headgear, cleaning products, and jewelry. ^[9]

On May 16, 2007 Amazon announced its intention to launch its own online music store. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[10] The store launched in public beta September 25, 2007, selling downloads exclusively in MP3 format without digital rights management. A software release is the distribution whether public or private of an initial or new and upgraded version of a Computer software product Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a Digital audio encoding format using a form of Lossy data compression Digital rights management ( DRM) is a generic term that refers to Access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers publishers and Copyright holders ^[11].

In August 2007, Amazon announced AmazonFresh, a grocery service offering perishable and nonperishable foods. Customers can have orders delivered to their homes at dawn or during a specified daytime window. Delivery was initially restricted to residents of Mercer Island, Washington, and was later expanded to several ZIP codes in Seattle proper. Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, USA The population was 22036 at the 2000 census ^[12] AmazonFresh also operated pick-up locations in the suburbs of Bellevue and Kirkland from summer 2007 through early 2008. Bellevue ( "BELL-view") is a rapidly growing city in King County, Washington, U Kirkland is an affluent city in King County, Washington, United States.

In 2008 Amazon expanded into film production and is currently funding the film The Stolen Child with 20th Century Fox. Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience ^[13]

Review and Recommendation Feature

Amazon. com is known for its candid reviews and its capabilities for recommending products to its customers. The customer reviews are monitored for all negative or indecent comments that are directed at anything, or anyone, but the product itself. In regards to the reviews lacking relative restrictions, Robert Spector who is the author of the book Amazon. com, describes how “when publishers and authors asked Bezos why Amazon. com would publish negative reviews, he defended the practice by claiming that Amazon. com was ‘taking a different approach…we want to make every book available – the good, the bad, and the ugly…to let truth loose’” (Spector 132).

Website

The domain amazon. com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey. Competecom is a United States Web traffic analysis service that publishes the approximate number of U This was twice the numbers of walmart. com. ^[14]

A popular feature of Amazon is the ability for users to submit reviews to the web page of each product. As part of their review, users must rate the product on a rating scale from one to five stars. A rating scale is a set of categories designed to elicit information about a Quantitative attribute in social science Such rating scales provide a basic idea of the popularity and dependability of a product.

The review feature is an important and highly influential function for customers and one of the main reasons for amazon. com’s success at selling books. As with book reviews anywhere, the buyer must beware that all reviewers have bias. Under normal circumstances, reviews give the reader at least a modest basis for evaluating a given book.

Because it is an open forum, the reader can benefit from a variety of perspectives. However, the anonymity of web reviewers increases the chances of abuse in the form of self-praise, praise from friends, or malicious criticism. This situation was confirmed in 2004 when the origin of reviews was accidentally made public on an amazon site, and some authors openly confirmed their glowing reviews of their own books.

Additionally, Amazon created a feature in recent years that allowed users to comment on reviews. This has been met with a mixed reaction, since a few of the high-profile sellers have been getting "spammed" in these forums, regardless of the quality of the reviews. Amazon has done little to enforce the rules of these forums, but did recently add an "ignore" button feature to help counteract the spamming. Nonetheless, at least one critic in the top 50 quit writing for Amazon and began contributing to another site due to the spam issues and Amazon's inability to enforce the rules. ^[15]

Amazon provides an optional badging option for reviewers, e. g. , to indicate the “real name” of the reviewer (based on a credit card) or to indicate that the reviewer is one of the “top” (most popular) reviewers. Some books have well over one thousand reviews (e. g. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged), but many books, especially new ones, have none.

The U. S. site generally has the most reviews, but other country sites offer the perspectives of other reviewers. A review posted on one site is not necessarily visible on another site.

Search Inside the Book is a feature which allows customers to search for keywords in the full text of many books in the catalog. ^[16][17] The feature started with 120,000 titles (or 33 million pages of text) on October 23, 2003. Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. There are currently about 250,000 books in the program. Amazon has cooperated with around 130 publishers to allow users to perform these searches. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view

To avoid copyright violations, Amazon. com does not return the computer-readable text of the book but rather a picture of the matching page, disables printing, and puts limits on the number of pages in a book a single user can access. One author observed that his entire book could be read online by searching a few words^[18]. Amazon is planning to launch Search Inside the Book internationally. Additionally, customers can purchase access to the entire book online via the Amazon Upgrade program, although the selection of books eligible for this service is currently limited.

According to information in Amazon. com discussion forums, Amazon derives about 40% of its sales from affiliates whom they call "Associates", and third party sellers who list and sell products on the Amazon website(s).

An Associate is an independent seller or business that receives a commission for referring customers to the Amazon. com site. Associates do this by placing links on their websites to the Amazon homepage or to specific products. If a referral results in a sale, the Associate receives a commission from Amazon. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000 members" in its affiliate programs. ^[19] Associates can access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) XML service. The Amazon Web Services (AWS are a collection of remote computing services (also called Web services offered over the Internet by Amazon Don't change "Extensible"

Amazon was one of the first online businesses to set up an affiliate marketing program. ^[20] AStore is a new affiliate product that allows Associates to embed a subset of Amazon products within, or linked to from, another website. aStore is an Amazoncom affiliate product which website owners can use to create an Online store on their site

Amazon reported over 1. 3 million sellers sold products through Amazon's worldwide web sites in 2007. Selling on Amazon has become more popular as Amazon expanded into a variety of categories beyond media, and built a variety of features to support volume selling. Unlike eBay/Paypal, Amazon sellers do not have to maintain separate payment accounts - all payments and payment security are handled by Amazon itself.

According to the Internet audience measurement website Compete. com, Amazon attracts approximately 50 million U. S. consumers to its website on a monthly basis. ^[21]

Acquisitions and spinoffs

• In April 1998, Amazon bought the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
• In August 1998, Amazon bought Cambridge, Massachusetts-based PlanetAll for 800,000 shares of Amazon stock. Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. PlanetAll was a Social networking, calendaring, and Address book site launched in November 1996 PlanetAll operated a web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. In the same deal, Amazon acquired Sunnyvale-based Junglee, an XML-based data mining startup for 1. Junglee ( Hindi: जंगली is a 1961 Indian Hindi movie produced and directed by Subodh Mukherjee. Don't change "Extensible" Data mining is the process of Sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information 6 million shares of Amazon stock. The two deals together were valued at about US$280 million at the time.
• In June 1999, Amazon bought Alexa Internet, Accept. Alexa Internet Inc is a California -based Subsidiary company of Amazon com and Exchange. com in a set of stock deals worth approximately US$645 million.
• In 2004, Amazon purchased Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce website. It also debuted A9.com, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology. A9com, which went live on April 14, 2004, is an Internet Search engine from Amazon Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt
• In March 2005, Amazon acquired BookSurge, a print on demand company, and Mobipocket.com, an eBook software company. Amazoncom Inc ( is an American electronic commerce ( E-commerce) company in Seattle Washington. Print on demand (POD, sometimes called publish on demand, is a Printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book (or other document are not Mobipocket SA is a French company incorporated in March 2000 which produces Mobipocket Reader software a universal reader for PDAs. An e-book (for electronic book: also ebook) is the Digital media equivalent of a conventional printed Book.
• In July 2005, Amazon purchased CreateSpace (formerly CustomFlix), a Scotts Valley, CA-based distributor of on-demand DVDs. Amazoncom Inc ( is an American electronic commerce ( E-commerce) company in Seattle Washington. Scotts Valley is a small city in eastern Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about ten miles (16 km south of San Jose and six miles ^[22] Since the acquisition, CreateSpace has expanded its on-line services to include on-demand books and CDs, as well as video downloads. On July 30, 2007, the National Archives announced that it would make thousands of historic films available for purchase through CreateSpace. Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The United States National Archives and Records Administration ( NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government charged ^[23]
• In February 2006, Amazon acquired Shopbop, a Madison, Wisconsin-based retailer of designer clothing and accessories for women. Madison is the capital of the US state of Wisconsin and the County seat of Dane County. ^[24]
• In May 2007, Amazon acquired dpreview.com, a London-based digital photography review website created by Phil Askey as his personal hobby website and Brilliance Audio, the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the United States. Digital Photography Review (established November 1998 is a Website about Digital cameras and Digital photography. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. ^[25]
• In January 2008, Amazon announced that it would acquire audiobook provider Audible.com for $300 million in cash. Audiblecom is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment information and educational programming

Noteworthy events

In 2002, Amazon became the exclusive retailer for the much-hyped Segway Human Transporter. The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing Electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. Bezos was an early supporter of the Segway before its details were made public.

In 2003, Amazon purchased the rival online music retalier CD Now, which was founded in 1994.

On June 21, 2003, Amazon coordinated what was at the time one of the largest sales and distribution events in e-commerce history with the sale of over 1. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. 3 million copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, since beaten by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with a sale of over 2 million copies preordered in 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final of the

On July 16, 2005, Amazon celebrated its 10th anniversary by telecasting a worldwide live concert hosted by Bill Maher and artists such as Bob Dylan and Norah Jones. Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. William "Bill" Maher Jr, (ˈmɑɹ born January 20 1956) is an American Stand-up comedian, Television host, Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar on March 30 1979) is an American Singer-songwriter, Pianist, Keyboardist

On December 13, 2007, Amazon paid £1,950,000 for a hand written copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. } The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of children's stories by British author J Joanne "Jo" Rowling OBE (born 31 July 1965 who writes under the

In December 2007, Amazon was fined €100,000 by the The Tribunal de Grande Instance in France for offering free shipping. The 1981 Lang Law prohibits companies from discounting books by more than 5%. Lang Law is the informal name given to French law number 81-766 from August 10, 1981, relative to book prices ^[26]

Products and services

Amazon. com has incorporated a number of products and services into its shopping model, either through development or acquisition.

2001

Honor System and donations

The Honor System was originally launched in 2001 to allow customers to make donations or buy digital content, with Amazon collecting 2. 9 percent of the payment plus a flat fee of $0. 30 USD.

2002

Web Services

Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2002. The Amazon Web Services (AWS are a collection of remote computing services (also called Web services offered over the Internet by Amazon The service provides programmatic access to many features leveraged behind the scenes on its website.

2004

Amazon also created "channels" to benefit certain causes. In 2004, Amazon's "Presidential Candidates" allowed customers to donate US$5-200 to the campaigns of 2004 U.S. presidential hopefuls. The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. Amazon has periodically reactivated a Red Cross donation channel after such tragedies as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an International humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide who stated Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States After the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Amazon set up an online donation channel to the American Red Cross, waiving its processing fee. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea Earthquake that occurred at 005853 UTC on December 26 2004 with an Epicentre off the west coast of The American Red Cross (also known as the American National Red Cross) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance disaster relief and education inside As of January 2005, over 162,000 individuals had donated over US$13. January 2005: ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September 1 million. Similar channels were set up for the British, Canadian, French, German and Japanese Red Cross organizations. The British Red Cross Society is a prominent part of the largest impartial Humanitarian organisation in the world – the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement The Canadian Red Cross Society is a Canadian humanitarian Charitable organization and one of 185 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies The German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. The is the Japanese affiliate of the International Red Cross. Over 7,000 Britons donated more than US$350,000; 900 Canadians over US$56,000; 660 French over US$23,000; 2,900 Germans over US$145,000; and 1,900 Japanese over US$66,000.

2005

Prime

Amazon Prime offers customers free 2-day and discounted priority shipping for a yearly fee of US$ 79. Amazon launched the program in the continental United States in 2005, Japan in June 2007 and the United Kingdom and Germany in November 2007. June 2007 is the sixth month of that year It began on a Friday and 30 days later ended on a Saturday. November 2007 is the eleventh month of that year It began on a Thursday and 30 days later ended on a Friday

Shorts

Launched in 2005, Amazon Shorts offers exclusive short form content, including short stories and non-fiction pieces from best-selling authors, all available for immediate download at US$. 49. As of June 2007, the program has over 1,700 pieces and is adding about 50 new pieces per week.

Mechanical Turk

In November 2005, Amazon. PortalCurrent events News collections and sources See WikipediaNews collections and sources. com began testing Amazon Mechanical Turk, an application programming interface (API) allowing programs to dispatch tasks to human processors. The Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk is one of the suite of Amazon Web Services, a Crowdsourcing marketplace that enables computer programs to co-ordinate the use of

2006

S3

In March 2006, Amazon launched an online storage service called Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). Stories without links will be removed. News stories must be in English Amazon S3 ( Simple Storage Service) is an Online storage Web service offered by Amazon Web Services. An unlimited number of data objects, from 1 byte to 5 gigabytes in size, can be stored in S3 and distributed via HTTP or BitTorrent. A byte (pronounced "bite" baɪt is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in Computer science. A gigabyte (derived from the SI prefix Giga-) is a unit of Information or Computer Hypertext Transfer Protocol ( HTTP) is a Communications protocol for the transfer of information on the Internet. BitTorrent is a Peer-to-peer File sharing protocol used to distribute large amounts of Data. The service charges monthly fees for data stored and for data transferred.

Discussion boards

In August 2006, Amazon launched product wikis (later folded into Amapedia) and discussion forums for certain products using guidelines that follow standard message board conventions. A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content using a simplified Markup language. An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site

EC2

In August 2006, Amazon introduced Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a virtual site farm, allowing users to use the Amazon infrastructure with its high reliability to run diverse applications ranging from running simulations to web hosting. August 2006 was a month with thirty-one days On August 10, an alleged plot to detonate ten Airliners over the Atlantic Ocean was revealed to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, also known as "EC2" is a commercial Web service which allows paying customers to rent computers on which to run their

2007

Amapedia

In January 2007 Amazon launched Amapedia, a collaborative wiki for user-generated content to replace ProductWiki. Amapedia is a Wiki where individuals can edit articles about products that they like

Unbox

In March 2007, Amazon launched an online video on demand service, which has been criticized for its use of digital rights management (DRM). March 2007 is the third month of the year It began on a Thursday, and ended 31 days later on a Saturday. Video on demand ( VOD) or Audio video on demand ( AVOD) systems allow users to select and watch/listen Digital rights management ( DRM) is a generic term that refers to Access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers publishers and Copyright holders

MP3 downloads

In September 2007, Amazon launched a new music store (currently in beta) called Amazon MP3, which sells downloadable tracks, all in the MP3 format and most recorded at 256 kilobits per second variable bitrate (VBR). September 2007 is the ninth month of that year It began on a Saturday A software release is the distribution whether public or private of an initial or new and upgraded version of a Computer software product Amazon MP3 is a digital music store owned and operated by Amazon MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a Digital audio encoding format using a form of Lossy data compression A kilobit is a unit of information abbreviated kbit (or kb) The standard definition is 1 kilobit = 103 bit = 1000 Bit. Variable bitrate ( VBR) or less commonly variable bit rate, is a term used in Telecommunications and Computing that relates to the ^[27] Amazon's terms of use agreements legally restrict use of the music, but Amazon does not use DRM to enforce those terms. Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an Intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used Digital rights management ( DRM) is a generic term that refers to Access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers publishers and Copyright holders ^[28]

Amazon MP3 is selling music from the Big 4 record labels, EMI, Universal, Warner Bros. Records, and Sony BMG, as well as many independents; as of January 2008 they are the only store to sell DRM-free music from all Big 4 labels. The music industry is the business of Music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations it is currently dominated by the "big The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in Universal Music Group (UMG is the largest Business group and family of Record labels in the Recording industry. Warner Bros Records Inc is an American Record label that operates as a wholly owned Subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is a diverse music and entertainment group PortalCurrent events International holidays January 1 - New Year's Day January 1 - Independence ^{[29][30][31][32]} Previous to the launch of this service, Amazon made an investment in Amie Street, a similar music store with a variable pricing model based on demand. Amie Street is an indie Online music store and Social network service created in 2006 by Brown University seniors Elliott Breece, ^[33]

Vine

In August 2007 Amazon launched Amazon Vine, which allows top product reviewers free access to pre-release products from vendors participating in the program. August 2007 is the eighth month of that year It began on a Wednesday and 31 days later ended on a Friday.

FPS

In August 2007 Amazon launched a payment service specifically targeted at developers. Amazon FPS has facilities for developing many different charging models including micro-payments. The service also gives developers easy access to Amazon customers.

Kindle

In November 2007, Amazon launched Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader which downloads content over "Whispernet," a free EV-DO wireless service on the Sprint Nextel network. November 2007 is the eleventh month of that year It began on a Thursday and 30 days later ended on a Friday An e-book (for electronic book: also ebook) is the Digital media equivalent of a conventional printed Book. Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only, abbreviated as EV-DO or EVDO and often EV, is a Telecommunications standard for the Sprint Nextel Corporation ( is a Telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. Initial offerings include approximately 115,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs. The screen uses E Ink technology to reduce battery consumption. E Ink is a type of Electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation.

SimpleDB

In December 2007, Amazon introduced SimpleDB, a database system, allowing users of its other infrastructure to utilize a high reliability high performance database system. Amazon SimpleDB is a Distributed database believed to be written in Erlang by Amazon

2008

Amazon MP3

In January 2008 Amazon announced they would be rolling out their Amazon MP3 service to their subsidiary websites worldwide throughout the year. PortalCurrent events International holidays January 1 - New Year's Day January 1 - Independence ^[34]

Undated

Connect

Amazon Connect enables authors to post remarks on their book pages and to customers who have bought their books.

WebStore

WebStore by Amazon allows businesses to create e-commerce websites using Amazon technology. Merchants can customize their sites using their own photos and branding. Sellers pay a commission of 7 percent, which includes credit-card processing fees and fraud protection, and a subscription fee of $59. 95/month for an unlimited number of webstores and listings.

Controversies

Trademark infringement

In 1999 the Amazon Bookstore Cooperative of Minneapolis, Minnesota sued Amazon. The Amazon Bookstore Cooperative Inc is a Bookstore located in Minneapolis Minnesota. com for trademark infringement. The cooperative had been using the name "Amazon" since 1970, but reached an out-of-court agreement to share the name with the on-line retailer. ^[35]

Patent use

The company has been controversial for its alleged use of patents as a competitive hindrance. An allegation (also called adduction) is a statement of a Fact by a party in a Pleading, which the party claims it will prove A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an The "1-click patent"^[36] is perhaps the best-known example of this. Amazon's use of the one-click patent against competitor Barnes and Noble's website led the Free Software Foundation to announce a boycott on Amazon in December 1999. Barnes & Noble Inc is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of Bookstores The Free Software Foundation ( FSF) is a Non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the Free software movement A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of ^[37] The boycott was discontinued in September 2002. ^[38]

On February 22, 2000, the company was granted a patent covering an internet-based customer referral system, or what is commonly called an "affiliate program". Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Reaction was swift and negative. Industry leaders Tim O'Reilly and Charlie Jackson spoke out against the patent,^[39] and O'Reilly published an open letter^[40] to Bezos protesting the 1-click patent and the affiliate program patent, and petitioning him to "avoid any attempts to limit the further development of internet commerce". Tim O'Reilly (Tadhg Ó Raghallaigh is the founder of O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates and a supporter of the Free software and open source Charlie Jackson is a computer software entrepreneur who founded Silicon Beach Software and co-founded FutureWave Software.

O'Reilly collected 10,000 signatures^[41] with this petition. Bezos responded with his own open letter. ^[42] The protest ended with O'Reilly and Bezos visiting Washington D. C. to lobby for patent reform.

On February 25, 2003, the company was granted a patent titled "Method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item on Internet discussion boards". Events 138 - The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site ^[43]

On May 12, 2006, the USPTO ordered a reexamination^[44] of the "One-Click" patent, based on a request filed by Peter Calveley, who cited as prior art an earlier e-commerce patent and the Digicash electronic cash system. Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Patent and Trademark Office ( PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues Patents to Electronic money (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency ^[45]

Canadian operations

Amazon has a Canadian site in both English and French, but is prevented from operating any headquarters, servers, fulfillment centers or call centers in Canada due to that country's legal restrictions on foreign-owned booksellers. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Instead, Amazon's Canadian site originates in the United States, and Amazon has an agreement with Canada Post to handle distribution within Canada and for the use of the Crown corporation's Mississauga, Ontario shipping facility. Canada Post Corporation ( Société canadienne des postes) is the Canadian postal operator operated as a crown corporation. In the Commonwealth realms a Crown corporation is a State-controlled company or enterprise Mississauga (ˌmɪsɪˈsɑgə) incorporated in 1974 is a City located in the Regional Municipality of Peel Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec ^[46] The launch of Amazon. ca generated controversy in Canada. In 2002, the Canadian Booksellers Association and Indigo Books and Music sought a court ruling that Amazon's partnership with Canada Post represented an attempt to circumvent Canadian law,^[47] but the litigation was dropped in 2004. Indigo Books & Music Inc ( is a retail chain in Canada. It was created in 1996 and their first store called Indigo Books Music & More was opened in Burlington ^[48]

Customer service

Amazon. com previously did not publish its toll-free customer service number on its own web site. Customers can submit written customer service requests (which are answered by e-mail), call a toll-free number, or use a click-to-call service to be connected by phone to an available service representative. Click-to-call (CTC refers to the process of converting web-based traffic into direct telephony communication between an end user and some other entity ^[49]

Before Amazon published its phone number, numerous web pages existed solely to publish the Amazon. com customer service phone numbers. One such page received in excess of 23,000 visits in December 2004 alone. ^[50] Despite the perceived difficulty in reaching customer service by phone, Amazon. com "remains the leader among e-tailers" in customer satisfaction according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index's fourth-quarter 2007 survey. The American Customer Satisfaction Index ( ACSI) is an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the U ^[51]

Labor relations

Amazon has opposed efforts by trades unions to organize in both the United States and the United Kingdom. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

In 2001, 850 employees in Seattle were laid off by Amazon. com after a unionisation drive. The Washington Alliance of Technological Workers (WashTech) accused the company of violating union laws, and claimed Amazon managers subjected them to intimidation and heavy propaganda. Amazon denies any link between the unionisation effort and the lay-offs. ^[52]

Also in 2001, Amazon. co. uk hired a US union-busting organization, The Burke Group, to assist in defeating a union recognition campaign by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU, now part of Amicus) to achieve recognition in the Milton Keynes distribution depot. Union busting is a practice that is undertaken by an employer or their agents to prevent employees from joining a labor union, or to disempower subvert or destroy unions The Burke Group (TBG Labor for short is a Malibu based American Management consultancy established in 1982. Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> Amicus was the United Kingdom 's second-largest Trade union It was alleged that the company victimised or sacked four union members during the 2001 recognition drive and held a series of captive meetings with employees. ^[53][54]

Some employees of Amazon in the United Kingdom are required to submit to drug tests and can have their employment terminated on a positive test. However, the reliability of the tests has been called into question, as in the case of an Amazon worker who won a tribunal case against the company.

The Humane Society of the United States v. Amazon. com, Inc. , et al.

Amazon continues to carry two cockfighting magazines and two dog fighting videos although the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) contends that the sale of these materials is a violation of U. The Humane Society of the United States ( HSUS) is a Washington D S. Federal law. The Humane Society of the United States has filed a lawsuit against Amazon. ^[55] A campaign to boycott Amazon purchases gained momentum in August 2007 after the much publicized dog fighting case involving NFL quarterback Michael Vick. The Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation began in April 2007 with a search of property in Surry County, Virginia, owned by Atlanta Falcons football Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26 1980 in Newport News Virginia) is a suspended National Football League (NFL Quarterback under contract ^[56]

Reader reviews credibility

A 2004 glitch in Amazon. ca's review system revealed that many well-established authors were anonymously giving themselves glowing reviews, with some revealed to be anonymously giving "rival" authors terrible reviews. The glitch in the system was fixed and those reviews have since been removed or made anonymous. ^[57][58]

BookSurge

In March 2008, sales representatives of Amazon's BookSurge division started contacting publishers of print on demand titles to inform them that for Amazon to continue selling their POD-produced books, they would need to sign agreements with Amazon's own BookSurge POD company. Print on demand (POD, sometimes called publish on demand, is a Printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book (or other document are not Publishers were told that eventually, the only POD titles that Amazon would be selling would be those printed by their own company, BookSurge. Some publishers felt that this ultimatum amounted to monopoly abuse, and questioned the ethics of the move and its legality under anti-trust law. ^[59]

Interfering with publishers' direct sales

In 2008, Amazon UK came under criticism for attempting to prevent publishers from direct selling at discount from their own websites. Amazon's argument was that they should be able to pay the publishers based on the lower prices offered on their websites, rather than on the full RRP. ^[60][61]

Easter eggs

Two easter eggs exist on Amazon. A virtual Easter egg is an intentional Hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, Book com's website. They are reached by invisible links at the center of the page below the last line of text.

1. An invisible link at the very bottom of the "Directory of All Stores" page leads to a February 2002 tribute to retiring Amazon. com Senior Vice President David Risher, "Amazon.com's favorite site surfer".
2. At the very bottom of Amazon. com's Sports & Outdoors store, an invisible link leads to a November 2007 tribute to retiring Chief Information Officer Rick Dalzell, "Amazon.com's favorite fisherman. Rick Dalzell (born 1957 was the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Amazon "

Additionally, at the bottom of the source code for the main page the word 'MEOW' is written in a comment.

See also

• Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)
• Statistically Improbable Phrases: Amazon. The Amazon Standard Identification Number ( ASIN) is a unique identification number assigned by Amazon Statistically Improbable Phrases or SIPs constitute a system developed by Amazon com's phrase extraction technique for indexing books.
• Amazon breakthrough novel award
• Amazon MP3

References

Further reading

• Robert Spector (2001). amazon. com--Get Big Fast: Inside the Revolutionary Business Model That Changed the World. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-662041-4.  
• Mike Daisey (2002). Mike Daisey (born 1973 is an American Monologist, Author, and Actor best known for his full-length extemporaneous monologues 21 Dog Years. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2580-5.  
• Mara Friedman (2004). Amazon. com for Dummies. Wiley Publishing. John Wiley & Sons Inc, also referred to as Wiley, is a global Publishing company that markets its products to professionals and consumers students and instructors ISBN 0-7645-5840-4.  
• Robert Spector (2000). Amazon. com. HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins is a Publishing company owned by News Corporation. ISBN 0-06-662041-4.  
• James Marcus (2004). Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot. Com Juggernaut. W. W. Norton. ISBN 1-56584-870-5.  
• Jakob Nielsen, "Amazon: No longer the role model for e-commerce design", Useit. For other people with similar names see Jakob Nielsen. Jakob Nielsen (born 1957 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a leading com, July 25, 2005.
• "A conversation with Werner Vogels", ACM Queue, May 2006. ACM Queue is a computer magazine published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM

External links

• Amazon.com.
• Amazon.co.uk
• WebStore by Amazon
• List of International Websites