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My guess would be:

- People understand or think they understand Amazons business

- Amazon has a history of few failures

- Amazon is establishing a physical and technological infrastructure that a lot of other companies will build up on. It's like an operating system in a way, and this will be converted into huge money in the future



Amazon has a history of few failures

I think Amazon fails all the time. I think it tries to get the opportunity to fail as often as it can. However, Amazon's failures are mostly small scale, and not visible in the press.


Here's an interesting one: http://www.endless.com/

It was their competitor to Zappos. Shoe-focused, free overnight shipping and returns. I would call it a failure since they subsequently bought Zappos. But like you said, not very visible since they never shut Endless down. No real point, since it's just another skin on Amazon.com.


I'd call those failures "failed experiments." Willingness to experiment is the hallmark of a well-run company.


Since history only includes what's recorded, I'd say the original statement is still true then.




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