If you look at where Amazon decided to build it's headquarters (South Lake Union in Seattle), and how it decided to significantly expand it, you'll see how much of a gamble they are making as a company. South Lake Union was never meant to be a tech sector (historically it has been a center for biomedical research, but the influx of computing solutions has challenged the need of space in biomed research labs) - and is known for grid lock and poor traffic patterns. But Amazon is going full forward: they are building more cafeterias, more offices, more parking.

It is my opinion that Amazon will live or die by this decision. Seattle is the fastest growing (per capita) city in the United States and already has had (for decades) a housing, traffic and parking problem. The plans that Seattle has to expand public transportation do not include plans which will help the chokehold situation in SLU.

Currently Amazon only works because: the cost of housing versus the income from Amazon is balanced with the insane hours they demand of their employees and the traffic that is only helped by the odd hours that employees end up working. As the price of housing increases, especially in those areas with easy access to Amazon HQ, and as the traffic situation becomes worse, and as Amazon burns out both its reputation and potential long term employees, the long term prospects of Amazon's HQ IMHO are not very good. The more employees are squeezed and the less they are compensated, the more the pressure to work must come not from compensation but from political pressure - but I think other opportunities in the area will drastically outperform Amazon in terms of compensation and work-life balance in this world, so I expect Amazon to falter.

The article may apply to heavily urban areas, but in more rural areas, Amazon is the only game in town besides getting in the car and heading to the local Wal-Mart. I can't see most of these localized delivery services getting national traction simply because it doesn't make economic sense in rural/suburban areas, the population density isn't high enough.

It's worth pointing out that many of these startup "threats" use AWS, including Postmates (https://angel.co/postmates/jobs/44964-software-engineer-infr...).

I don't think anybody can predict Amazon's future. There still isn't enough competition. Once another brand can be recognized as equally trustworthy as Amazon is, maybe there will be a chance for it's demise. However, the Fire Phone fail will definitely not expedite that potential process