Amazon had something of a surprise hit when it announced its programmable Dash buttons that allow to you to quickly order product refills. Now the company is expanding Dash as a platform and enabling the first wave of connected devices that use the service to help you easily replenish your tools as soon as you need to.
The first set of devices have actually already been on sale for a while; they include certain Brother printers, a washer from GE and the Gmate Smart blood glucose monitor.
It works pretty much as you’d expect; the printers can automatically order more toner when supplies are running low, for instance, while the washer will make sure you always have detergent when you need it.
It’s neat and simple – you might never have to worry about running out of ink again. The Dash Replenishment Service will be enabled via a software update too, so there’s no need to wait around to buy a new product.
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Meanwhile, the company is expanding its list of brands that have signed up to use the Dash Replenishment Service on future products, adding Purell and Whirpool products to a list that includes companies like Samsung and Brita. And while new products might replenish automatically, devices can also simply feature a ‘Dash’ button to help you order on your own terms.
Fittingly, Amazon is also taking the opportunity to open up access to the Dash Replenishment Service API, going from private beta to public. Interested developers can go to the API page to start integrating Dash into their products in “as few as 10 lines of code.”
It’s somewhat surprising it’s taken this long for automatically replenishing devices to come to market, many of our devices and appliances have been connected to the internet for years. I’d expect to see a lot more products with direct Dash integration pop up soon.
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