For a few minutes on Tuesday, it seemed like Amazon might actually have a sense of humor.
The online shopping giant announced a new hardware product called the Dash Button. It's a little hook, decorated with the name of a household brand, which customers can place on the wall and tap to automatically order (or more likely re-order) a specific product.
This may seem, to some, to be an excess of convenience. Few people have complained, as of yet, about the laborious walk to a laptop where they have to sweat and agonize over Amazon's "one-click" shopping button. But for those weary souls who are tired of having to pull out a smartphone and go through the motions to order more Tide detergent, the cavalry has come.
Now you can just place the little Tide-branded battery powered device directly on your washing machine using the Dash button's "reusable adhesive" or "hook." The same applies for Bounty paper towels, Clorox wipes and more than a dozen other products -- as long as you're an Amazon Prime customer.
The buttons are available immediately and they are free – though they are available invite-only, for Prime members.
Amazon has long been trying to turn our lives into one never-ending impulse shopping experience, but this effort sounded almost too literal. That, combined with the fact it was announced one day before April Fools' Day, may explain why many on Twitter questioned if the buttons were simply a joke.
Nope.
As a rep for Amazon told Mashable by email, "indeed it is real."
So I guess the new #AprilFools thing is to do it a day early... right @amazon? https://t.co/CrrHktBfGn— Ryan Sloane (@RyanFSloane) March 31, 2015
Seriously can't figure out if Amazon Dash Button is an April's fool https://t.co/QFPA5ioCp3— Simon Eskildsen (@Sirupsen) March 31, 2015
So is the Amazon Dash button a real thing and not an April Fool's joke? Hope I'm not being gullible. But it appears to be legit.— Paul R. La Monica (@LaMonicaBuzz) March 31, 2015
Amazon's Dash button is either the most fantastic April Fool's day joke or the sign that the apocalypse is upon us...j.mp/1Hhol8z— Fred Navarrete (@thirstyreveler) March 31, 2015
So just to repeat for the record: Amazon wants you to place tiny, battery-powered buttons throughout your home so you can shop and shop and shop. It all sounds like a capitalist's dream of the Internet of Things.