Amazon cheapens "e-currency" concept

[abbyd]

Amazon Launches Its Own Currency to Make It Easier to Spend on the Kindle
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/02/amazon-coins-currency/



I'd say it's more like SCRIP : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip
You'll need a Swindle to buy crap you don't need off AZ... flames?

[1714971697]

1714971697

[1714971697]

1714971697

[wtfvanity]

I can't believe how many posts we have about this same thing...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141316.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141308.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141335.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141425.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141432.0

[abbyd]

Sorry, my search for "Amazon" on all forums was too general.

Perhaps the inline coin logo is more trollworthy than the other threads?

[DeathAndTaxes]

Amazon is just following in a long line of other companies.  Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Zynga, etc.  Really this is just a sympton of broken credit card model.  Lower cost and more user friendly to make one payment gets a bunch of tokens and then buy on site.  I mean an physical arcade might accept credit cards for a bulk purchase of tokens but they aren't going to install a credit card reader on every game and charge the card $0.50 a swipe.  Casino's do the same thing.  You can buy chips for a CC cash advance at the cage but you can't hand the blackjack dealer your card to swipe for every hand.

Credit cards are a pain in the butt and these in house tokens are a way to make them a little less of a pain (for both consumer and merchant).  This neither helps nor hurts Bitcoin in the slightest. 

[wtfvanity]

Amazon is just following in a long line of other companies.  Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Zynga, etc.  Really this is just a sympton of broken credit card model.  Lower cost and more user friendly to make one payment gets a bunch of tokens and then buy on site.  I mean an physical arcade might accept credit cards for a bulk purchase of tokens but they aren't going to install a credit card reader on every game and charge the card $0.50 a swipe.  Casino's do the same thing.  You can buy chips for a CC cash advance at the cage but you can't hand the blackjack dealer your card to swipe for every hand.

Credit cards are a pain in the butt and these in house tokens are a way to make them a little less of a pain (for both consumer and merchant).  This neither helps nor hurts Bitcoin in the slightest. 

Since this is already posted in dozens of forums, allow me to go COMPLETELY OT based on what you just said DT.

You know who would be the perfect candidate for Bitcoins? It doesn't help with charging them by the day or what not, but redbox. A $1.25 rental half of that goes to the credit card company. Of course they would have to have you send $20 in BTC for a DVD rental and when you return it, they send the coins back... but they could double their profits or reduce the rental fee back to a buck.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Should Bitcoin transaction fees get high enough in future, I foresee similar 'internal accounting' mechanisms being employed more often by bitcoin businesses too.

[Gabi]

I don't get why all this attention about this amazon thing.

It is not anything new, facebook had facebook coins, this is exactly the same, it is totally unrelated from bitcoin.

[wtfvanity]

I don't get why all this attention about this amazon thing.

It is not anything new, facebook had facebook coins, this is exactly the same, it is totally unrelated from bitcoin.

Correction. FB had credit. Amazon has coins. I think the only new thing is them using coins in the name.

[TraderTimm]

Essentially its just another one-way trapdoor token that is centralized and subject to the whim of a single corporation.

I'd run like hell away from it, personally.

[evoorhees]

https://twitter.com/JamesGRickards/status/299004776799166464

James Rickards... I expected more from you :/

While James should know better, in many peoples' eyes, Amazon Coins is just "one more virtual currency" alongside Bitcoin, Microsoft Points, Linden Dollars, and Facebook Credits.

This is nonsense, and I'd like to explain why Bitcoin and Amazon Coins are as different as bumble bees and blueberry muffins. They are not both virtual currencies, of the same ilk, but fundamentally separate things entirely.

1) Bitcoin is actually a currency, while Amazon Coins are just US dollar tokens, spendable only with Amazon. Amazon Coins are a proxy of the USD, meaning they are USD with a different name, not a unique currency at all. They are dollars, but less useful.

2) Amazon Coins are non-transferable. What kind of "currency" is non-transferable? Transferability should be a prerequisite for the term "currency."

3) Amazon Coins are 1-way, meaning you buy them, then you use them for stuff. You cannot resell Amazon Coins back for dollars or any other currency.

4) Amazon Coins are territory and content restricted. Only useful where Amazon permits, and only usable to buy Amazon stuff.

5) Amazon Coins offer no privacy whatsoever. They're linked to your identity via your Amazon account.

6) Amazon Coins bow down to all US regulation. The moment the US Gov says no, they will vanish.

7) You have no claim of ownership over Amazon Coins. Amazon can remove them from your account with a click of a button and they are likely never legally your property whatsoever.

Amazon Coins are not a currency in any proper sense of the term, and provide no interesting utility whatsoever. It's a marketing ploy to get customers to provide interest-free float capital to Amazon (customers buy coins, then spend them later, meaning Amazon holds that balance as capital upon which it can operate and profit). There's nothing wrong with Amazon doing this, but it's not a currency.

Amazon Coins are just Amazon Gift Cards, but they've renamed them Coins and made them less versatile.

Ironically, Amazon Coins will generally be welcomed and trumpeted by the public as a legitimate Virtual Currency while Bitcoin remains marginalized for "not being real money." But we know the public has little understanding of money in the first place, so this should come as no surprise.

//rant over

[Fuzzy]

//rant over

//Thread over

[abbyd]

3) Amazon Coins are 1-way, meaning you buy them, then you use them for stuff. You cannot resell Amazon Coins back for dollars or any other currency.

4) Amazon Coins are territory and content restricted. Only useful where Amazon permits, and only usable to buy Amazon stuff.

5) Amazon Coins offer no privacy whatsoever. They're linked to your identity via your Amazon account.

Agreed. I believe these "coins" are just "tech-scrip". Also they are a "loss leader" - they're trying to sell more consumer tablets by giving away a few bucks in credit at their store.

Is it just me or are those Swindles largely useless?  It took me 5 minutes to figure out how to just start a browser on one, I felt like I was using AOL!

[Richy_T]

Is it just me or are those Swindles largely useless?  It took me 5 minutes to figure out how to just start a browser on one, I felt like I was using AOL!

You're talking about the Kindle Fire. The other Kindles are quite excellent at their intended task.

[Gabi]

Is someone really comparing bitcoin to this thing?

Next what, we will compare horses with strawberries?

[ElectricMucus]

Is someone really comparing bitcoin to this thing?

Next what, we will compare horses with strawberries?

They are both eatable. 

[Piper67]

Well, if imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess we should all feel quite flattered.

[abbyd]

Well, if imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess we should all feel quite flattered.

+1.  It's bullish when a mega-corp is poorly copying a nerdy open source currency movement.
I can almost hear the kids, "don't buy that Amazon weaksauce, you need real bitcoin!"

[wtfvanity]

I'm not so sure. Sheeple will hear about Amazon coin. Then when they understand its just Amazon's crappy alternative to Itunes gift cards, if they then associate it with Bitcoin.... that's not what Bitcoin is at all and I think it provides no help at all.

[Gabi]

We are associating it with bitcoin. You guys literally flooded the whole forum with this crap.

[Puppet]

You know who would be the perfect candidate for Bitcoins?

Yes, Gas stations.
I just read a (few years old) article where it said in the US on average gas stations pay 2x more in credit card fees as they make in net profit.  IOW, their profits could triple by accepting bitcoin . And if they sacrifice some of that to reduce prices, I dont know about the US, but here gas is mighty expensive and people actively search very hard for the cheapest gas prices, or drive quite a while. So cheap gas might be a nice incentive for them to buy some bitcoins to use at the pump.

/ot.