Amazon.com 2007 Annual Report Download - page 14

provide e-commerce services, including website development; fulfillment and customer service; (5) companies
that provide infrastructure web services or other information storage or computing services or products; and
(6) companies that design, manufacture, market or sell digital media devices. We believe that the principal
competitive factors in our retail market segments include selection, price, availability, convenience, information,
discovery, brand recognition, personalized services, accessibility, customer service, reliability, speed of
fulfillment, ease of use, and ability to adapt to changing conditions, as well as our customers’ overall experience
and trust in transactions with us and facilitated by us on behalf of sellers. For our seller and web services,
additional competitive factors include the quality of our services and tools, the speed and reliability of our
services and our ability to build technology infrastructure while remaining competitive with our services from a
cost perspective. Many of our current potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more
customers, and greater brand recognition. They may secure better terms from vendors, adopt more aggressive
pricing and devote more resources to technology, fulfillment, and marketing. Other companies also may enter
into business combinations or alliances that strengthen their competitive positions.
Intellectual Property
We regard our trademarks, service marks, copyrights, patents, domain names, trade dress, trade secrets,
proprietary technologies, and similar intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on trademark,
copyright and patent law, trade-secret protection, and confidentiality and/or license agreements with our
employees, customers, partners, and others to protect our proprietary rights. We have registered a number of
domain names and been issued a number of trademarks, service marks, patents, and copyrights by U.S. and
foreign governmental authorities. We also have applied for the registration of other trademarks, service marks,
domain names, and copyrights in the U.S. and internationally, and we have filed U.S. and international patent
applications covering certain of our proprietary technology. We have licensed in the past, and expect that we may
license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks, patents, technologies or copyrighted
materials, to third parties.
Seasonality
Our business is affected by seasonality, which historically has resulted in higher sales volume during our
fourth quarter, which ends December 31.
Employees
We employed approximately 17,000 full-time and part-time employees at December 31, 2007. However,
employment levels fluctuate due to seasonal factors affecting our business. Additionally, we utilize independent
contractors and temporary personnel to supplement our workforce, particularly on a seasonal basis. Our
employees are not represented by a labor union and we consider our employee relations to be good. Competition
for qualified personnel in our industry is intense, particularly for software engineers, computer scientists, and
other technical staff. We believe that our future success will depend in part on our continued ability to attract,
hire, and retain qualified personnel.
Available Information
Our investor relations website is www.amazon.com/ir. We make available on this website under “Financial
Documents,” free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on
Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or
furnish such materials to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We also make available on this
website under the heading “Corporate Governance” our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
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