Not to be a pedant but you're neglecting steps in your Dash algorithm that you implemented in the phone version (possibly creating a visual bias).

Number of steps to scan grocery by Dash:

1.) Find scanner

2.) Turn on scanner

3.) Start scanning action

4.) Find laptop (or mobile phone)

5.) Navigate to browser

6.) Sign in to Amazon Fresh Account

7.) Confirm and pay

I don't honestly think the Dash would provide a discernibly faster experience, but I do believe it would be the option your target demographic opts for simply because the Dash is explicitly designed for this type of task. Just because my phone can turn on the television doesn't mean I won't reach for the remote every time.

1. Do you have to find your frying pan every time you cook food also? This is a kitchen utensil with a dedicated storage location. Its not comparable to finding your phone which might still be left in your car even.

2. I think its very unlikely a device like this in year 2014 will have a power on button. Scan and power on will most likely be the same thing. Charging battery of yet another device is still a hurdle though

4-7 is something you only do once a week, and this action could still be done on the phone,

they also didn't account for the kids "helping out" and not putting the Dash back where you expect it.

Also, if something like this gets baked into iOS or Android the steps change to "Swipe from home screen. Select 'Scan'."

Though I trust Amazon here and assume their hardware works in more situations than a phone's camera

Classic over engineering.

"Number of steps to scan grocery by phone"

Most people just use pencil + paper, or notepad/note app on phone. Never have I seen people actually use technology while shopping unless it's a typed out list.

Yep I agree. I've tried lots of to do lists, apps, etc. and always keep coming back to the pen and paper stuck to the refrigerator. Siri adding stuff to notes through voice rec worked pretty well, but it's a gigantic hassle to be cruising through the grocery store constantly turning your phone on and off to go through the list.

Although nicely executed, I really don't see Dash being more than something a gadget freak uses for a few weeks and then sits in a drawer forever. Also doesn't help that the area for Amazon Fresh is so small too.

Agreed.

In fairness however, my wife and I use grocery lists on our phones all the time (though it's only two steps, not the OP's 7: (1) "put peaches on my grocery list" (2) confirm).

So, I built an app for exactly this type of scenario[1]. My wife would ask me to buy something, and then forget, so she'd send an updated email. And then an updated updated email.

And then possibly a text message. Of course, it goes from being 2 things to 10 things quickly. And then I'd have to deal with actually keeping the list orderly and constantly checking what I did have in the basket already (more difficult with 20+ items).

So, I wrote an app. It was funny, building a "twodo" app. But honestly, I just needed something that worked.

I mention all of this because it did start with trying to use what we already had.

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twodo/id834991291?mt=8

It's also why I continue to wear a watch despite carrying a cell phone.

Exactly, that is an excellent analogy.

Alternatively, if you had an 'always listening phone' like the Moto X, your flow might go something like this:

Option A

1. Ask your phone to buy {name of item}

2. Screen turns on, tap to confirm your purchase

Option B

1. Find the Dash device

2. Scan the item (if you haven't already discarded or recycled it, and haven't ruined the barcode in the process of opening it)

3. Confirm and pay

To me, Dash feels like a (possibly unnecessary) stopgap on Amazon's part. I understand they have the means to try things like this, but selling a device seems superfluous given the developing capability and direction of phones. As an Amazon customer, I hope Option A is their endgame.

> 1. Ask your phone to buy {name of item}

Outside theory, I don't see that working very well in the real world currently.

On amazon fresh website, there are currently

229 results for "green apples"

8 results for "granny smith apples"

2 results for "1 granny smith apples"

Same with ham, eggs, or any other products really. Sure, the user could be more specific, but then it gets a lot more work and problematic than simply scan the damn barcode for this "4-in-1 pack of organic spanish strawberry yoghurt march special offer".

First - what's simple about "simply scan the damn barcode"? Simplicity is telling your phone that you ran out of pasta sauce, not stocking a barcode scanner in your pantry. The hardware may be sleek, but amazon's solution most certainly isn't. For a company with amazon's resources, I'd expect more.

Next - presuming that you bought something from Amazon, why do you need the barcode? If I recently bought and/or regularly buy granny smith apples from Fresh, it's quite easy to figure out the most probable buying targets for queries of "apples." Further, if I regularly buy 5 different types of granola bars, now I can use one query and a checkbox instead of scanning each box individually. (Sidebar: how do you use Dash to scan produce that you've already consumed? Do you have to keep the containers around?)

In the big scheme of things, figuring out which product you probably want to buy based on your buying history (and that of others) is a trivial problem compared to the other problems that had to be solved for "always listening" and such. Amazon's job ends up being the easiest in that stack.

You're not considering that a lot of people might just prefer to be explicit and specific about purchases. If I see I've run out of pasta sauce, I might want to scan the empty one to reoder it, because it's precise. I definitely wouldn't want to risk vagueness and inaccuracy just for the privilege of using an abstraction like saying "I'm out of pasta sauce" into a phone. What would that achieve anyway? Outsourcing the bit of your brain that says "we need more pasta sauce", so you've only got to worry about thinking "oh there's no pasta sauce"..? Scanning a barcode is simple and precise.

  risk vagueness and inaccuracy

You're scanning a barcode of an item you recently purchased from amazon. Where is the vagueness in querying for that item by type?

In most cases, your pantry has 1 type of each item, which means you've got a canonical mapping from "pasta sauce" to an item in your fridge. That also means you've got a very high probability of mapping the recent purchase of pasta sauce to the query of "pasta sauce." Where is the vagueness?

In the worst case, you've bought two or three different types of pasta sauce, and you'd like to replace just one. Let's be clear - this is most definitely the exception to the rule. In this case, your phone gives you a list of options to choose from -- the list of your N most recently purchased pasta sauces (backfilled by prior orders or popular choices).

"Phone, order green apples"

"Same type as last week?"

"No, the ones I bought before that"

"OK, ordered XXX apples"

Steps 2 and 3 may be better in the hands of the consumer -- in other words, while you can get away with probabilistic guesses for an initial query, you'd be better off leaving the consumer with an interface they can pick & choose from instead of trying to pull a Siri.

Where is the barcode on a granny smith apple?

most people keep their phone on them most of the day, especially those willing to grocery shop online. i don't feel like finding a phone and pressing maybe, 3 buttons, is any slower than finding some other gadget tucked in a drawer somewhere in your house, and pressing one button. i don't see the point of the hardware here, even though finding an app on my phone is apparently 4 steps.

Moms do the lion's share of household grocery shopping, and are less likely to have functional pockets than men. This gizmo is going to be hanging on the pantry door.

Amazon is creating services and products based on observed behaviors and needs in households with multiple people. You're making claims about what other people want based on how you feel.

Creating things people want and are willing to give you money for requires paying attention to what they actually do and use -- not just what they say they do, nor how you feel they should be acting.

> some other gadget tucked in a drawer somewhere in your house

It's designed with a loop so you can hook it somewhere handy. They show this in the video at 1m27s.