- Following reports to the effect, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has launched a restaurant-ordering/delivery service in Seattle, with plans to expand elsewhere. The service is offered via the app for Amazon's Prime Now 1-hour product delivery service.
- Notably, Amazon isn't charging any service or delivery fees. The company will take a cut on orders, and says it's setting a "high bar" for which restaurants are allowed to participate. Online food-ordering/delivery leader GrubHub (NYSE:GRUB) fell 3.6% today. In addition to GrubHub, rivals include Yelp/Eat24, Groupon, and Uber.
- Separately, the WSJ reports Amazon is working on a 6" Fire tablet that will sell for just $50 - half the price of the current Fire HD 6 - and launch in time for the holiday season. New 8" and 10" models are also reportedly being prepped.
- The WSJ adds Amazon is working on "a high-end computer for the kitchen code-named Kabinet, a tablet with a 3-D screen, and an e-reader battery that can last two-years on a single charge." Other projects, such as a projector device, a 14" tablet, and a smart stylus, have been shuttered as the company pares back its hardware efforts.
- A lack of support for Google Play and various other Google apps/services (off limits due to Amazon's use of a non-Google version of Android) have weighed on Amazon's tablet share. Not counting 6" models, IDC estimates Amazon's Q2 U.S. tablet share was below 1%; the company's tablet sales have historically skewed heavily towards Q4.