Image: © Nicola/Stock.adobe.com
Internet and cloud juggernaut Amazon is on a roll and is clearly in its Prime.
Amazon has reported Q1 revenues of $59.7bn, up 17pc from $51bn a year ago.
The strong figures resulted in a net income of $3.6bn, up from $1.6bn last year.
‘In addition to 100 college scholarships a year, we’re funding computer science classes in 1,000 high schools and counting’
– JEFF BEZOS
The company has revealed that it is now working to offer free one-day shipping as the default for Amazon Prime customers.
Amazon has clearly expanded beyond e-commerce into a digital powerhouse. It reported that its Fire TV has more than 30m active users, that Alexa offers more than 90,000 skills (apps) in the Alexa Skills Store, and that it now offers Apple Music via Alexa on Fire TV, Echo and Sonos devices.
Not only that but Alexa Auto has now been launched to new vehicles, including the new Audi E-tron.
The company also revealed that Amazon Day, a new delivery innovation that gives Prime members the option to choose a day of the week for their packages to arrive, became available to all US Prime and Business Prime members.
After engineering today, Bezos wants to engineer tomorrow
CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company is on a mission to spread computer science to schools and create the engineers of the future.
“The son of a working single mom, Leo Jean Baptiste grew up speaking Haitian Creole in a New Jersey home without internet access,” Bezos said. “He’s also one of our inaugural group of 100 high school seniors to receive a $40,000 Amazon Future Engineer scholarship and Amazon internship.
“He rose to the top of his class and is set to study computer science at college this fall, with the dream of getting a job in machine learning.
“Our passion for invention led us to create Amazon Future Engineer so we could help young people like Leo from underrepresented groups and underserved communities across the country. In addition to 100 college scholarships a year, we’re funding computer science classes in 1,000 high schools and counting, and inspiring younger kids to explore coding through coding camps and after-school programmes. We love this programme, and we can’t wait to see what Leo and his fellow future engineers invent,” Bezos said.
In recent weeks Siliconrepublic.com reported how Amazon has committed to buying the energy from a 91.2MW wind farm in Donegal. The wind farm project, which will be developed by Invis Energy, is expected to deliver clean energy no later than the end of 2021.
Last year Amazon revealed plans to create 1,000 new jobs in Ireland, bringing its Irish workforce headcount to 3,500 people.
