February 14, 2017

Amazon Chime - is this the killer app?

Today, Amazon released Chime, it's entry into Unified Communication.

I proceeded to download the app for my iPhone and after an email verification using my existing Amazon account, I was met with a clean interface.


There are three tiers of pricing and upon a quick check, I have absolutely no idea of the tier I am on. One can only hope and assume that I'm on the basic, free tier. Amazon already has all my credit card information as I routinely purchase damn near everything from them already.

Amazon has little to lose, yet much to gain in this space. Most other UCaaS providers have much to lose however if Chime gains wide adoption. Further testing needs done on my part to determine if Chime will come close to my personal expectation. Stay tuned.


You can't turn off self view in the iPhone app. This is bad. Video quality is quite good and puts Spark to shame on a quick test basis. I obviously couldn't test audio due to the dreaded echo loop.

Also of note, I could not launch a call from the browser in either Safari or Chrome on my MacBook Air. I had to download the OSx app which couldn't be done from the call in webpage, even though there was a link. I had to go back to Chime's main page to find the app, install it and run it. Upon further review, it appears that you can't do video from a browser, you can join a meeting and see data, bot no video. You need the app for that.


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