The Amazon rainforest: the largest tropical rainforest in the world. Famed for its biodiversity, crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, river towns brimming with 19th-century architecture and almost 30 million people.
It’s vastness kind of reminds me of the Amazon that is (unfortunately) far more familiar to us now. However, unlike the Amazon rainforest, of which we have already successfully destroyed about 17%, Amazon.com just seems to keep not only growing, but evolving.
And quick climate fact, if that percentage reaches 25, there won’t be enough trees to cycle moisture through the rainforest, causing it to dry out and degrade to desert, so yeah, there’s a problem.
The greed of human beings aside (well, not really, Amazon.com/co.uk epitomises gratuitous self-serving, convenient greed) but the latest argument – what actually is Amazon?
When I think of Amazon, I think retail. Everything from electronics, to clothing, stationary, cosmetics, basically, everything one could ever dream of in one handy place.
Yet according to GlobalData, Jeff Bezos stepping down as Amazon CEO highlights Amazon’s shift from a retailer to a tech company. This is following the publication of Amazon’s Q4 2020 results.
David Bicknell, principal analyst in the Thematic Team at GlobalData commented, “Amazon’s decision to hand Andy Jassy, head of the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud computing business, the job of replacing Jeff Bezos as Amazon’s chief executive completes Amazon’s shift from being a retailer to a technology company.
“AWS is pivotal to Amazon’s business. It accounts for a massive 52% of Amazon’s quarterly operating profit, but only 12% of total sales. It will continue to be the engine of Amazon’s growth and its most important unit for years to come.
“Technology is at the heart of Amazon’s operations, and its success is driven by its strength in the key themes disrupting the tech, media, and telecoms (TMT) sectors, including cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of work.
“In GlobalData’s sector scorecards, Amazon scores five out of five for the cloud, AI, and future of work themes, indicating that the company’s positioning in these themes will significantly improve its future performance.
“Amazon is also ranked number one in GlobalData’s application software and IT infrastructure sector scorecards – second behind only Microsoft in cloud services and Apple in consumer electronics.”
So, that pretty much cements it. If Amazon is only second to the likes of Microsoft and Apple, the literal giants of the tech world, that surely earns them a seat at the tech table.
Normally I might question, is this what the consumer wants? But evidently the figures show that tech is where it’s at, and the way things are right now, if we do ever want to see the real Amazon (the one with all the trees), it’ll more than likely be through a screen.
That said, if we keep going the way we’re going, we won’t even have that luxury – we’ll be looking at dust, whilst Carol from down the road tweets about what a travesty it is. Sigh.
This editorial originally appeared in the Data Centre Review Newsletter February 5, 2021. To ensure you receive these editorials direct to your inbox, you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
