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More appliances can automatically buy you pet food from Amazon

More appliances can automatically buy you pet food from Amazon

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Yesterday, Amazon announced that it's adding a bunch of new partners and products to its Dash Replenishment Service, including Samsung, GE, and some automatic pet food dispenser companies. You might know Dash better for its little Wi-Fi connected buttons that let you buy stuff (or get hacked to order pizza). But Amazon's other goal (and perhaps its main goal) is to have the ability to automatically reorder consumables like pet food or batteries built right into gadgets.

Samsung is joining Brother in offering a printer that can re-order ink automatically when you're running low. Obe, Oster, Petnet, and CleverPet all want to reorder pet food for you. GE has a washing machine that will reorder detergent.

Amazon's list of partners for the Dash program consists of a random assortment of products, though it's much too early in the program to declare it a success or failure. The company is hoping to entice more to sign up at its AWS conference later this month, at an Internet of Things pavilion.

That last bit, more than anything else, is a good sign of how Amazon thinks of Dash — a foothold into the IoT world. Google has Weave, Apple has HomeKit, and Amazon has a whole set of weird ways to connect up stuff to its Echo speaker. Except now it has Dash, too, and though it goes too far to call it a Trojan Horse into this emerging market, it is fair to note that Amazon wants more products talking to Amazon. It's a start, and just another sign that the retailer has designs to build an ecosystem that can get mentioned in the same breath and Apple ad Google.