Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    MarTech Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Staff
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Data » Amazon Sidewalk is almost here

Amazon Sidewalk is almost here

Should consumers opt out, and should brands keep their distance? What marketers need to know about Amazon's neighborhood takeover.

Chris Wood on June 3, 2021 at 12:59 pm

In only a few days, Amazon will be activating a new mesh wireless network called Amazon Sidewalk, which automatically shares bandwidth between your Echo and Ring devices and those of your neighbors unless you opt out. The devices (full list here) will go live in the U.S. on June 8.

Once live, these devices in your home will turn into Sidewalk Bridges, and share up to 80Kbps of connectivity to expand the network so more wireless Amazon products work outside the home. For instance, Amazon’s Tile device helps people find lost items. They’ve also partnered with the CareBand wearable device to assist people with dementia. The Amazon Sidewalk program supports these products by providing more connectivity outside the home, so long as your neighbors don’t choose to disable this function by opting out on their Echos and Rings.

The impending rollout of Amazon Sidewalk has raised some concerns, and they are not without merit. In the short term, it extends the Internet of Things (IoT) outside the home, where connectivity is spotty. But it could also be part of a deeper strategy to dominate the gateway between the home and the Internet, according to Robin Gaster, public policy scholar at George Washington University and President of technology and data consultancy Incumentrics.

Privacy concerns. The opt-out function is an easy sequence of menu options on each device, but the move to automatically opt-in could be viewed as sneaky. Amazon insists that data in their network is secure, and they’ve released a whitepaper about that.

Deeper strategy. “Sidewalk strategically is a way to extend some aspects of its home environment out into the community,” said Gaster. “How that could be used is totally unclear right now, but if I told big tech companies that they could own a new network that sits on top of existing broadband and extends fairly universally across major communities, without spending a nickel on devices (in fact being paid for them) and without connectivity costs, I’d be flattened in the ensuring goldrush.”

Is Amazon Sidewalk brand safe? “So far as brands are concerned, there’s plenty of time to see how this plays out,” Gaster stated. “There is fairly shrill opposition from the privacy people right now, but I expect that to die down.”

Consumer upside. “On the consumer side, I see little need to worry, at least at this point, and some useful potential benefits,” Gaster said. “If I could add a network that could reliably find my phone, wallet, and keys in my neighborhood at minimal cost I’d be interested, though we don’t know how well that will work yet. I’d suggest being cautiously interested.”

Why we care. For marketers interested in using voice and audio channels, anything Amazon does to expand engagement with consumers around the home and in the neighborhood is big news. At the very least, mobile phone and car navigation platforms will have another channel to compete with if people stay tuned into Alexa with their Amazon Echo when they step outside.


New on MarTech

    How clean, organized and actionable is your data?
    Replacement Survey: The top 5 solutions replaced
    What’s the biggest hidden secret in Google Ads?
    Native video tops social media in brand awareness study
    Worsening economy has more shoppers getting online info before making in-store purchases

About The Author

Chris Wood
Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country's first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on "innovation theater" at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.

Related Topics

Data

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Agencies: Grow Revenue Streams Through Web Accessibility & Compliance

Protect Your Paid Advertising Spend Against Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Build an Integrated Search Strategy Across Google, Amazon and YouTube

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

Site Search 101

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.