Amazon’s first foray into smart home technology, the Dash button, is officially defunct, as the company announced it would discontinue the functionality of all existing buttons later this summer.
Amazon has transformed the smart home with a wide range of technology in recent years. From voice-enabled TVs to video doorbells to helpful virtual assistants, the ecommerce giant has truly turned your home into its own tech hub. Unfortunately, this growing trend made Amazon’s inaugural smart home product into a uselessly redundant piece of technology that you really just don’t need.
Subsequently, Amazon is doing away with the Dash button in its entirety. So what happened?
What’s Happening to the Dash Button?
According to CNET, who first broke the news, Amazon has decided to completely and unceremoniously discontinue capabilities for all Dash buttons currently in use today. The device — which allows users to simply touch a single button to order products on Amazon like Tide detergent, Bounty paper towels, or Gillette razor blades — will stop workin on August 31st.
The move comes after halting sales of the Dash button in February, at which time Amazon told the presumably few Dash button owners that they could still use the product. Unfortunately, that caused usage to “significantly slow,” according to an Amazon spokesperson, and they opted to discontinue the functionality entirely.
What Killed the Dash Button?
It’s easy to see why Amazon decided to kill the Dash button, particularly when you consider how obsolete it became with the entrance of other smart home technology. From virtual assistants to AI-powered smartphones, the competition for ordering products fast and conveniently in your home just got too, well, competitive.
When you think about it, the Dash button and the Echo hit shelves a mere seven months apart, which didn’t give the former much time to build up a following. Plus, with voice assistants being installed on nearly every smartphone, one touch might have seemed like one too many for most users looking for a futuristic shopping experience.
Will Your Dash Button Still Work?
Well, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no it will not. Because Amazon saw such a steep drop of in usage after discontinuing sales in February, the ecommerce giant didn’t see the value in keeping it around in any capacity.
Fortunately, the Dash feature will live on in a wide variety of other functions, as Amazon seems more than happy to repurpose poorly performing ideas. For one, the Dash button will live on as a virtual button rather than a physical one on the Amazon website for easy ordering. Plus, the Dash Replenishment Service will continue to automatically reorder products for you, and voice shopping through Alexa will come with an added Dash twist.
All this is to say that Amazon is not completely destroying the Dash brand, but the physical button is gone forever. Admittedly, this quirky, now useless device will always hold a place in some nostalgic tech lovers heart, but it’s hard for a one-touch shopping option to compete in a no-touch shopping world.
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