SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon has launched an innovative in-home delivery service, which will allow packages to be delivered inside your home even when you’re out.
The service is called Amazon Key and the indoor security camera has been named the Amazon Cloud Cam. Amazon however is not making a lock, which will instead be supplied by several manufacturers such as Yale and Kwikset.
Amazon Key enables in-home delivery and access for guests and service appointments. It will be available from November 8 in 37 cities across the U.S. and will be rolling out to more locations over time. Delivery via this method is available at no extra cost for Prime members.
Users can also download the Amazon Key app, which will enable them to track a delivery and even watch the delivery as it happens or review the video once the delivery is complete. Each time a delivery driver requests access to a customer’s home, Amazon verifies the correct driver is at the right address at the right time.
The Amazon Cloud Cam then starts recording and the door is unlocked.
On Nov. 8, Amazon will begin offering a secure-lock service, called Amazon Key, that will give Amazon Logistics delivery personnel a code to unlock a customer’s door for 5 minutes. Using a new Amazon device, the Cloud Cam, the entire delivery will be live-streamed to the customer’s devices and also sent as a video snippet.
The service is an effort to thwart one of the problems of Amazon’s popular package delivery service — package theft — as well as give users “choice, peace of mind and convenience,” in the words of Peter Larsen, Amazon’s vice president for delivery technology.
