Wi-Fi is power hungry because it's always on. It seems like these little buttons would only need to connect when you press them, then shut off right after. It's a very minor power draw when you consider the wi-fi will only run for 15 seconds every month or so. Of course, that's my read on it - maybe it does connect to the Echo.
Re:Amazon Dash Button
by jessaustin on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @01:18PM
(#9298113)
CPGs will pay a LOT for this because it makes their brands "stickier".
Exactly right, and this is exactly analogous to brands (or more often, their distributors) renting shelf space, and sometimes even hiring their own people to stock shelves.
CPGs will pay a LOT for this because it makes their brands "stickier". I can't tell you what brand of paper towels I normally buy, but if I always bought them through my "Bounty" button, I would always buy Bounty paper towels instead of whatever is on sale at the store.
I doubt this button connects to Wi-Fi directly - that's too much hassle (and too power-hungry). I wonder if Amazon has some sort of Zigbee-like controller embedded in the Amazon Echo that is set up to manage low-power devices like this.