Amazon Analytics Service

http://developer.amazon.com/sdk/analytics.html

by alariccole • 13 years ago

202 89 13 years ago

developer.amazon.com

Does anyone know how this compares with other offerings?

tannerc• 13 years ago

While I'm sure many of us didn't see this coming, it makes perfect sense for someone like Amazon -- with their massive server farms and data structures -- to do something like this.

I wonder if they'll push for more developers to move to Android and their Kindle system somehow.

AsymetricCom2• 13 years ago

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/08/new-amazon-appstore-incenti...

hydralist• 13 years ago

how does this compare to mixpanel or kissmetrics?

tszming• 13 years ago

This service is free at any usage level according to their faq.

recuter• 13 years ago

Jesus christ. That sure is a source of mixed feelings.

KaoruAoiShiho2• 13 years ago

What are the chances of this being primarily spyware? I am seriously concerned. Is there a Chinese wall mentioned anywhere.

weixiyen2• 13 years ago

I'm paying $150/month for mixpanel and that's their lowest paid plan. The switch is a no brainer if Amazon can feature match funnels, retention, and activity.

azio_m• 13 years ago

I thought this is something that competes with Google Analytics. Apparently it's for mobile apps and games only.

bowlofpetunias• 13 years ago

Feels like an artificial beta restriction to me. Also, it's branded "Amazon Analytics Service", not "Mobile Analytics".

I suspect it's only a matter of time before they branch out and take on GA.

keltex• 13 years ago

It's too bad Amazon doesn't have any analytics for publishers of books on Kindle. The only information you get is the # of copies sold and how much people paid for them on a monthly basis. (You can get daily sales, but those are only available for "month-to-date" so you have to go in every single day to record those value).

It would be nice to know how people found the book, demographics of who's reading them, etc.

hornbaker• 13 years ago

Have you looked at AppAnnie? They launched an e-book tracking service recently...

https://www.appannie.com/dashboard/?demo=1&vertical=books

jrpt• 13 years ago

I have a product on Amazon currently. What sellers really want IMO is conversion tracking on Amazon's platform. Even the ability to add your own Google Analytics tracking code would be amazing. This way you can know how many visitors your pages are getting, where they are coming from, and if you buy paid traffic, how that is converting and whether it is worth it. Without this, you're shooting in the dark with marketing spend.

App Annie is great, and I've used it for general analysis, but I think what most sellers want is deeper analytics so that they can track marketing spend with conversions. This is something no third party can do. It'd need to come from Amazon.

pmenon• 13 years ago

Have you tried out Kobo Writing Life? It's for self-published authors that offers much more in the way of analytics than Amazon KDP does.

http://www.kobo.com/writinglife

tpowell• 13 years ago

I'm sure this has been said a million times elsewhere, but boy do I feel like Amazon would benefit from better designers like Google has.

degenerate• 13 years ago

I'm confused where this can be used. Reading the website it looks like your app needs to be in the amazon marketplate? Or can their analytics engine be used on apps distributed through google play?

k-mcgrady• 13 years ago

The analytics also work on iOS so I presume you can use the Android one on Google Play. It wouldn't make sense to restrict it to Amazon if they also offer an iOS version.

AsymetricCom2• 13 years ago

ftfa: A single destination to track your iOS, Amazon and Android apps.

Keep in mind, there are many android app stores out there, not just Google and Amazon. I'm sure you could push any kind of metrics your heart desires, not just Apps.

EGreg3• 13 years ago

How is it better than Google Analytics?

EGreg3• 13 years ago

What someone really needs to launch is an ad network which can target by desktop os, like MacOS, Windows etc. People would use it to sell desktop apps! Sadly I have never found one.

melindajb5• 13 years ago

this can already be done.

https://support.google.com/adwords/editor/answer/1211190?hl=...

Note also that most A/B testing networks can be used as defacto Ad Serving/Dynamic content serving because you can target operating systems as well.

EGreg3• 13 years ago

Um are you sure we can target MACS specifically and not simply "desktops"? How can we do it exactly?

sanbornesteve• 13 years ago

I saw a presentation by a company that seems to have a similar focus at recent meetup in new york: http://www.indicative.com

Their website claims (cutting out the marketing) ... to empower all web and mobile businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions. ... tools that help startups and small businesses learn from their data and improve their performance.

ceejayoz• 13 years ago

That's your idea of "cutting out the marketing"?

josephlord3• 13 years ago

Javascript required for the information light webpage.

"FEES

At any time, Indicative retains the right, upon any notice required by applicable law, to impose or alter the fees for the Service. Such changes will be effective immediately upon posting on our Website."

This is the killer for me at the moment, don't want to integrate with something and then find out the price and have to stop without warning or have to test client behaviour if the server goes away.

Free for startups is stated but I can't see anything visible explaining who qualifies or what paid might look like.

nostromo2• 13 years ago

I wonder if these big brands (Amazon, Google) can be stretched infinitely with more and more offerings without confusing users.

Amazon is a retailer and cloud computing provider and a video streaming service and a TV producer and a device manufacturer and a grocery store and a bank for small business loans and a hundred other things... At what point does the umbrella brand start to confuse people?

Bezos must have a brain the size of Texas to keep all these moving parts in mind.

sharkweek• 13 years ago

Great question -- when I ask my mom what she thinks of first about Amazon she says "buying Christmas gifts"

The first thing in my mind is almost always one of their technical services, most specifically AWS

libria• 13 years ago

I wonder how far down the list "jungle" is on average.

ig1• 13 years ago

It's not anything new, conglomerates have existed for a long time before the internet age.

For example consider Sony: Sony Computer Entertainment (gaming), Sony Mobile (phones), Sony Pictures (movies), Sony Music (music), Sony Life (insurance), Sony Bank (banking), Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Visual (imaging), Sony Medical (medtech)

nostromo2• 13 years ago

That's kind of my point. Sony became unfocused and muddled.

Fun fact: Twitter is worth more than Sony. Billions more.

Segmentation• 13 years ago

Then there's Samsung, I think they're the largest conglomerate in the world.

My mom would affiliate Samsung with TVs. I'd probably put them with computer monitors and phones.

They also build skyscrapers and power plants (Samsung C&T Corporation), and ships (Samsung Heavy Industries). They also sell Life Insurance in South Korea.

xwowsersx• 13 years ago

I don't see how/why the multitude of offerings should confuse users. If I'm looking for mobile analytics and I find Amazon's, what difference does it make to me that they're hand is in a million other things? The only confusion will be if their documentation sucks :)

mathattack• 13 years ago

They made the leap from books to other items seamlessly. I think that their branding as Amazon rather than something else was behind this. They mildly redirected their brand with AWS, but still pulled it off. I think the analytic offering doesn't change much of the branding.

My assumption on Bezos is that half is he's an obsessive genius, and half is he hires very well. You need the right people to keep the parts moving without detailed guidance.

You can tell that Google is aware of this challenge by the simplicity of their Search screen. They keep a lot of their offerings hived away from the top screen.

sjtgraham3• 13 years ago

This is one of the so called 22 immutable of laws of branding, i.e. the law of expansion: the power of a brand is inversely proportional to it's scope.

Vis-à-vis Amazon, I'm not sure it's a problem yet, I think of them as a retailer, AWS and Kindle, etc as separate brands. I don't see the problem at this juncture.

marincounty• 13 years ago

Yea, I just got a email from Amazon asking "Why I didn't use the video service." Why--because I already watch the boob tube too much. Jobs summed it up--stick with three things and do them well.

jmduke2• 13 years ago

For the record: Apple, off the top of my head, is in the business of consumer hardware, professional hardware, accessories, consumer software, productivity software, consumption software, cloud storage, communications, and eCommerce platforms.

drawkbox• 13 years ago

Let's set the crazy point right now, when Amazon University offers Masters in Law we'll know it is a virtual Costco from Idiocracy.

On a serious side, it stops when Bezos can't make it work and there aren't many things that fit in that category. I'll see you at Amazon U.

alariccole2• 13 years ago

Good point, but I don't think it muddles any messages, at least when the audiences are clearly defined. Marketing to devs using Amazon APIs or consumers shopping and watching movies isn't going to overlap.

CurtMonash• 13 years ago

Conglomerates peaked in the US in the 1960s; since then, it's been believed that too much de-focus is bad. That said, it's certainly OK for a company to have multiple businesses. Berkshire-Hathaway is like an old-style conglomerate. GE is regarded as being very well run. Etc.

The danger of a conglomerate is that a culture or decision-making paradigm suitable for the dominant business(es) might not be good for others. E.g., smaller businesses might get ignored because they don't matter enough. Or they might not be allowed to move quickly and take risks. E.g., Xerox found that selling LISP machines and copier paper mixed badly, as reorders of the latter were held hostage to the immaturity of the former.

deepGem• 13 years ago

Mitsubishi corporation. Pretty much anything and everything from toasters to trains.

jacques_chester• 13 years ago

Mitsubishi is one of the major "Keiretsu" in Japan, the descendants of the pre-WW2 Zaibatsu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

melindajb5• 13 years ago

Are they using anything different from cookies? If so, the results won't be any different from what you get in Google Analytics.

melindajb5• 13 years ago

really, I was voted down for this?

DenisM• 13 years ago

For not reading the article before commenting.

josephlord3• 13 years ago

Can anyone see any terms and conditions that apply to Amazon's use of the data returned? The "Program Materials License Agreement" doesn't seem to cover the service as such but the software you a licensing to include in your app to talk to it.

Most of the existing services (Mixpanel, Flurry etc.) give them the right to use aggregate data for their purposes which has put me off using them so I initially sort of rolled my own but never got round to doing the analysis side. I would love to use this if the TOS are OK.

josephlord3• 13 years ago

They do (unsurprisingly but annoyingly) have the right to use, access, retain and disclose your data "... and to collect, use, and share aggregated information about Amazon Insights."

I emailed Amazon and they said this:

"The Amazon Insights Schedule in the Distribution and Services Agreement addresses what you are looking for, and can be found here:

https://developer.amazon.com/help/da.html"

Amazon Insights Schedule

The terms of this Schedule apply if you use any of the Program Materials we make available to perform A/B testing and collect and analyze data from your Content (such materials, collectively, the "Amazon Insights API").

1) Amazon Insights. “Amazon Insights” is a collection of services that we make available for you to enable you to perform A/B testing and collect and analyze data from your Apps. You may only use Amazon Insights through the documented interfaces and other features we make available, and you will comply with any velocity, capacity, or other limits we establish for the use of Amazon Insights.

2) Your Data. You are solely responsible for all information and data collected or stored from your Apps using Amazon Insights (“Your Data”). We may use, access, retain, and disclose Your Data in order to provide the Amazon Insights service to you, to enforce the terms of the Agreement, to comply with any request of a governmental or regulatory body (including subpoenas or court orders), and to collect, use, and share aggregated information about Amazon Insights. You give us all permissions we need to exercise these rights.

3) Privacy and Compliance with Laws. Without limiting your obligations under Section 4 of the Agreement, you must (a) ensure Your Data does not include any name, password, other login information, or personally identifiable information or personal data of any end user, (b) provide any necessary notice to, and obtain any necessary consent from, end users for the collection, use, transfer, and storage of Your Data (including by us under this Agreement), and (c) collect, use, transfer, and store Your Data in accordance with any privacy notice you provide and all applicable Laws.

4) Survival. Sections 1 through 3 of this Schedule will survive any termination of the Agreement.

AaronFriel• 13 years ago

This was my first time going to the Amazon SDK site and I am blown away by the difference in site design between it and Amazon's AWS site.

The SDK site is cleanly designed, has less clutter, and so on. The services link to other services and I feel like I'm being sold a value proposition - sign up and reap rewards.

The AWS site is amazon.com turned into place a storefront for cloud services. And that storefront is cluttered and seems eager to have me buy things without selling me on the value.

sjtgraham3• 13 years ago

Analytics: What everyone is doing now to get first class data on which new apps are exploding to acquire at a knock down price before anyone else catches on. Facebook with Parse (http://swaggadocio.com/post/60416244109/why-facebook-really-...), and now Amazon.

rebel2• 13 years ago

Yeah, it really is some extremely valuable data. I've always imagined what a goldmine the data Alexa/Compete gather is on up-and-coming websites.

weixiyen2• 13 years ago

Just checked it out. It's missing funnel tracking, which is a glaring hole for any analytics service.

rebel2• 13 years ago

This had my hopes up for a web analytics competitor to Google. Has anyone found a free service (or relatively cheap) that outperforms Google's offering for web?

workhere-io• 13 years ago

http://piwik.org/

hvass• 13 years ago

Looking at their mobile offering, I would love for Amazon to move into the space. I am curious to know what are you lacking right now in GA that you're looking for another free solution?

CCs• 13 years ago

http://newrelic.com/ has analytics for web client, mobile client and server side.

alexatkeplar• 13 years ago

https://github.com/snowplow/snowplow <disclaimer: co-founder>

generj2• 13 years ago

I second SnowPlow; the difference between them and other offerings (like Piwik) is that they don't attempt to be a Google Analytics knockoff, but have a distinct philosophy about how analytics should function.

And there is a library for Arduino!

hackula12• 13 years ago

While this would not work for many people... I log most stuff to a database. I have an admin panel where admin people can perform simple extracts. The extracts can then be crunched by analysts in any way they want. We don't have millions of users, as we are B2B, but it lets the sales guys load the data into an excel template that does what they want. Then they can focus on what people are using and what they should pitch towards. This would probably be a terrible solution for high user apps, but it has worked great for high value low user stuff that I usually deal with.

alariccole2• 13 years ago

Just tried it out on iOS, and happy with it so far. I'd done extensive research on tools, and one thing that bothered me was lack of updates. For instance, it was tough finding a package that was updated for 64 bit (iphone 5s). Open source is great of course, but not all the tools I needed were available. Will continue with this and see how it goes.

jyap• 13 years ago

I started looking into it for iOS and making a test app to see what it looked like.

Then I read in the integration instructions: You will also need to add the SystemConfiguration and CoreTelephony frameworks, and libz.dylib library...

From: https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/analytics/documentation/ios...

Why would they need the CoreTelephony framework? No other analytics providers I've used (Flurry, Localytics) require this framework.

More information about the CoreTelephony framework: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Networ...

e28eta• 13 years ago

I'd guess it's to report Carriers, I've seen analytics products do that in the past.

Nux• 13 years ago

Another one to make my /etc/hosts along with: www.google-analytics.com google-analytics.com ssl.google-analytics.com statcounter.com www.statcounter.com

Let me know if I missed anything important. :)

VladRussian2• 13 years ago

i wonder is it normal practice on mobile to include private key (from the Analytics SDK docs for Android):

InsightsCredentials credentials = AmazonInsights.newCredentials(YOUR_APP_KEY, YOUR_PRIVATE_KEY);

Looks strange. I'd expect that either each app installation to have its own permanent key (most probably some derivative of your key generated at install/download) or, by analogy with the well known system, something like the app/device coming to you for temporary ticket and using it to initialize SDK.

slowdown• 13 years ago

Hey guys, can someone tell me what exactly is an SDK, or rather how do you design one?

Case in point:

Does the Amazon SDK include their source code?

So, let's say if Amazon offers me an SDK that I can install on my servers to capture analytics on my site. So does that mean, that the SDK they provide me with actually contains their whole source code of their analytics platform?

The way I understand SDK's are a local piece of software that runs on your machine to provide you with an API that you can use. Can someone please straighten this poor soul?

Thanks :)

matkam• 13 years ago

I haven't looked at their SDK yet but it would either come in the form of a compiled library, or uncompiled source code, that (like you said) would give you access to their API within your own project. You do not get the entire source code for their analytics platform, just the part that would let you use it.

Amazon Analytics Service

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