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The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

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From 10 November, Ryanair check-in counters They will close one hour before of the scheduled departure, instead of the 40 minutes that is now allowed. The change implies that the traveler will have to coordinate the time better and go a little more in advance. All, according to the company, in order to avoid problems at security and passport controls. What exactly changes. Until now, Ryanair travelers who wanted to deliver their luggage at the airport had a limit of 40 minutes prior to the departure of their flight. With the new rule, that margin is extended to 60 minutes. In other words: you will have to arrive at the airport earlier and arrange your suitcase more in advance. The measure will apply to all airports where the Irish airline operates. Why does he do it? According to the company itselfthe goal is to reduce the number of passengers who miss their flight due to getting stuck in security or passport control queues. By bringing forward the closing of the counters, travelers with checked luggage would have more time to go through those checkpoints before boarding begins. Dara Brady, chief marketing officer at Ryanair, counted in the press release that the change is especially relevant “during peak periods, when some of these lines at the airport can be longer.” Milan was the best example. Queues at checkpoints are the common enemy that can cause us to end up missing our flight. And the last few weeks have been especially busy around it, because hundreds of passengers missed their flights due to Europe’s new Entry and Exit System (EES). This is the European Union’s new digital border control that forces non-EU citizens (including British citizens after Brexit) to register their biometric data, such as fingerprint and facial recognition, every time they cross a border in the Schengen area. The system was supposed to be fully operational on April 10, but it seems that no one thought that the system would end up being so chaotic. According to reported BBC, on April 16, a Ryanair flight from Bergamo airport in Milan left for Manchester, leaving behind a group of travelers who had been stuck in the border queue for an hour and a half without moving forward. That same day, another airline flight between Tenerife South and East Midlands also left many passengers on the ground. Mplus self-check-in kiosks. The measure comes accompanied by an expansion of self-check-in luggage kiosks, which will be available before October in more than 95% of the airports in its network. These terminals work integrated with the Ryanair application and allow the passenger to check in the suitcase and print the label without going through the traditional counter. The airline claims this will speed up the process and reduce waits. Who it affects and who it doesn’t. According to account airline, this change only affects 20% of Ryanair passengers who check baggage. The remaining 80%, who travel only with hand luggage, will not notice any difference. For this reason, if you travel with Ryanair and plan to check in a suitcase starting in November, take this margin into account and calculate that you will have to arrive a little earlier for your flights. Cover image | Marty Sakin In Xataka | The airlines had been warning for weeks and the consequences are already here: Volotea will charge 14 euros more for the Hormuz crisis

China was the power that launched drones. Now he has realized his danger with a decision: close the sky to them

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Exactly 10 years ago an unprecedented event occurred. A small drone landed without authorization in the White House garden after its operator loses control. It didn’t have explosives or sophisticated cameras, but it was enough to activate a complete security protocol and put the authorities on alert for hours. That apparently trivial incident was an announcement to sailors. The drone empire closes its sky. It remains a paradox that China, the great dominatrix of the global drone market with millions of devices in circulation and leading companies like DJI, be the same power that has started to drastically restrict its use within its borders. Yes, I counted a few days ago the new york times that the new rules require register each device with real identity, link it to personal data and transmit real-time flight information to the government. Flying without authorization can lead to fines, confiscations and even prison sentences, and in cities like Beijing the ban is almost total, to the point of preventing the sale or entry of drones into the capital. Total control of airspace. Thus, the regulatory tightening It has turned what was once a recreational or professional activity into a terrain full of obstacles. In practice, much of the urban space is left out of use, with permits having to be requested in advance and rarely granted. In fact, users throughout the country have denounced interrogations, sanctions and confiscations even on flights that they consider legal, while some claim to receive calls from the police as soon as they turn on their devices. The result is a paralyzing effect: the sky is still full of drones in theory, but in practice fewer and fewer take off. Security, fear and Ukraine and Iran. Behind this shift is an easy-to-understand key factor: modern warfare. has shown that drones are no longer toys, but combat actors of first order. Recent conflicts have made it clear that even cheap models can monitor, attack or alter critical infrastructuresomething that especially worries Beijing in terms of internal security. The possibility of these devices being used against sensitive infrastructure or even political leaders has accelerated a response that seeks to eliminate any margin for improvisation in the air. The economics of low altitude. Paradoxically, the Times said that the tightening comes just when China wants to expand the commercial use of drones in what it calls “low altitude economy”. The objective is to turn them into key tools for logistics, agriculture, industrial inspection or light transportation. But to achieve this, the government considers it essential to first impose absolute control of airspace, like someone reorganizing a city before opening it to mass traffic. The problem: that this previous order is suffocating the ecosystem that it aims to promote. The final dilemma. If you like, the result is a contradiction that is difficult to resolve in Beijing: the nation that raised and built the global drone industry is limiting its use by the danger they perceive to the point of stopping innovation, business and adoption. Companies see sales fall, the second-hand market grows and entrepreneurs abandon projects due to the impossibility of operating. Meanwhile, some experts warn of another unexpected consequence: restricting access too much may prevent training future operators, just when the world is heading towards wars and economies where knowing how to handle a drone will be a strategic skill. Image | Infinity 0 In Xataka | China just showed the world what comes after the combat drone: 96 drones with a science fiction launch In Xataka | 200 drones in the hands of a single soldier: China is advancing very quickly in a type of war that seemed like science fiction

Memory prices have started to fall in some markets. There is still a long way to go to close the AI ​​crisis

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There is a scene that repeats itself every time the market gives a truce, even if it is minimal: it is enough for the price of a key component to begin to fall for the feeling that the worst is over. This is exactly what is happening now with DDR5 memory. In recent weeks falls have been recorded in the retail channel of several markets, and that has reactivated an inevitable question among those who have been following the evolution of prices for months: whether we are facing the beginning of the end of the memory crisis or simply a one-time adjustment. An extended pressure. To understand what we are seeing now, it is advisable to broaden the focus and look at the recent path of the market. The rise in memory prices It has not only hit the user who wants to update their equipment, but also manufacturers, distributors and assemblers, in a context marked by supply and demand tensions that have been conditioning purchases and strategies for months. Therefore, we are facing a pressure scenario that has ended up affecting a good part of the hardware market. Where and how much prices are falling. Beyond perception, what there is right now is a measurable change in some shop windows. TrendForce aims to clear declines in the retail channel in several regions. In Europe, the German market recorded a monthly drop of 7.2% in March 2026, while in the United States there have been discounts of more than 20% on specific 32 GB DDR5 kits. The most striking case is China, where 16 GB modules have fallen between 25% and 30% from the peaks at the beginning of the year. A correction. Behind this adjustment there is a much more earthly explanation than it might seem. According to the analysis firm and the industry sources it cites, the main factor is less traction in consumption after months of high prices, which has led many buyers to delay decisions and distributors to accelerate the release of inventory. Added to this is a common lag between the spot market and contracts, which can take between one and two months to translate into actual shipments. The noise around TurboQuant. In parallel with this correction, an element has appeared that has fueled the debate in the market. TurboQuanta compression algorithm from Google, has been interpreted in some recent coverage as a sign that the pressure on RAM could relax. However, the most prudent readings They point in another direction, pointing out that this is an incremental improvement and not a change capable of alone altering structural demand, especially in memory for servers and loads linked to artificial intelligence, which remains high. End of the crisis? All this fits into an idea that the sector itself repeats quite clearly. From Taiwan-based memory manufacturers, contract prices have remained stable despite volatility in the retail channel, and demand in segments such as servers, DRAM and HBM remains strong, partly supported by multi-year agreements with large customers. In this context, the current correction is interpreted as a specific adjustment, not as a sufficient turnaround to consider the current episode of tension resolved. Caution and more caution. What we are seeing in some markets is a temporary relief for the consumer, yes, but everything indicates that it is a correction within a cycle still stressed by underlying factors that have not disappeared. The most optimistic forecasts speak of a progressive normalization towards the end of 2026 in some segments, while others place it even further. With this scenario, ending the memory crisis would be getting ahead of events that, for now, are still far from being confirmed. Images | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | AI urgently needs memory, so Samsung and SK are going to inject $1 billion into China

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has dropped so much in price that it is already close to its all-time low again

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It will have a new generation, but the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra not a single one is lost. It is still sold in many stores, and some now have it at a price that we have not seen for a long time. Powerplanet has lowered the price of the Galaxy to 999 eurosthus remaining very close to its historical minimum, which so far is 979 euros. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The Galaxy S25 Ultra, almost at a minimum price He Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra It is a mobile phone that today continues to stand out above many other models, and it already has a new generation. It is a large mobile phone, 6.9 inches, that incorporates a screen with AMOLED LTPO panel technology. It also offers Quad HD+ resolution and has anti-reflective treatment. Internally it comes with the Snapdragon 8 Elitethe most powerful processor of its generation, which offers very good power and excellent performance. It also comes with a battery that supports 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging and includes the integrated S-Pen. On the other hand, it incorporates a very reliable photographic section that is capable of offering very good photographic results. Despite being launched a year ago, will continue to receive software updates for many yearsincorporates many artificial intelligence functions and, in this case, comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Samsung galaxy S25 Ultra offer today ✅ THE BEST Yesu pricesince we are talking about one of the best he has received to date. In fact, the best price we’ve seen was 20 euros cheaper. Your screensince it has a tandem of very attractive features: Quad HD+ resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate and anti-reflective treatment. ❌ THE WORST The cameras sectionwhich despite offering good results, does not vary too much with respect to the previous generation and today there are more striking proposals. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking to make the leap towards one of the best Samsung phones, paying much less than what it officially costs (or cost). ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You do not need to have such a complete mobile phone and you prefer to have something more current, since it is not one of the current generation models. You may also be interested Samsung Galaxy Buds4, Bluetooth Headphones, 240bit/96 kHz Audio, Adaptive Noise Cancellation, AI Voice Agent, 3 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty + 1 Extra Year, White (Spanish Version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy Watch7 Bluetooth + Strap – 40mm Smartwatch, Health Monitoring, Sports Tracking, Green (Spanish Version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Ricardo Aguilar,Samsung In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best Samsung phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and five recommended models

close your Discord server

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Satya Nadella made the world love Microsoft again, but AI is making people hate this company again. Or at least make fun of it, because in recent weeks an alternative name for the company began to go viral. It was no longer Microsoft, but Microslop (in reference to the “AI Slop”, “AI-generated slop”). In Redmond they have not taken the mockery well at all. what has happened. In recent months, Microsoft’s obsession with AI has led it to flood their operating systemssoftware and services with AI functions and his “copilots”. The problem is that many of these functions have not been correctly launched —Recall (Memories) is the best example of thisthe other is the notepad—, and that has generated quite general rejection on networks. This rejection has led to an ironic nickname for the company, which for many had become “Microslop” from Microsoft, in reference to the “AI slop”. Source: WindowsLatest “Microslop”, a banned word on Discord. The name has spread through social networks, but it has also reached the Discord server they had to talk about Microsoft Copilot. Although the company cannot stop the spread of that term on other platforms, it could control it on its Discord server. That’s just what he did: any message that contained that term was automatically blockedand users saw a notice indicating that the message included a phrase considered inappropriate according to the server’s usage rules. The game of cat and mouse. Users of said server soon realized the problem, so they ended up resorting to variations of that term, for example changing the capital letter “O” to a zero (“0”). That term was not initially detected by Discord’s filter, but the channel’s moderators ended up expelling and canceling accounts that had used the term. Things get worse. The escalation of tension on the server continued, and some parts of the server were restricted. For example, it was not possible to access message history, and many users found their permissions to post new messages were revoked. And Microsoft has closed the Discord server. The whole situation has had a surprising ending: Microsoft has contacted with Windows Latestwho told what was happening, and indicated to them that they have decided to directly close the Discord channel that they had created to talk about Microsfot Copilot. According to those responsible, “The Copilot Discord channel has recently been targeted by spammers attempting to disrupt and saturate the space with harmful content unrelated to Copilot. Initially, this spam consisted of blocks of text, so we added temporary filters for certain terms in order to curb this activity. We have since decided to temporarily block the server while we work to implement stronger security measures to protect users from this harmful spam and ensure the server remains a safe and usable space for the community.” bad idea. The final decision does not help Microsoft’s perception of its users to improve, and although this type of mockery and attacks may certainly not sit well, the company has acted in a counterproductive way: instead of tackling the problem they have magnified it, and it remains to be seen if they reopen that server – whose initial activity was promising – and, above all, how they face the next steps of that ambition to fill all their AI products. Less AI please. Microsoft officials themselves know that the situation is somewhat tense. Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows, admitted that there were “pain points” regarding those AI features that the company has included in the operating system. In fact, the company theoretically intends to work more on system stability and performance and less on adding features that users not only don’t want, but they end up eliminating. In Xataka | People are so fed up with AI in Windows that there are already applications to clean up any trace of it

The robotaxis did not need a driver, but Waymo has ended up paying delivery drivers to close ajar doors

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What until not long ago seemed the exclusive province of science fiction is beginning to become visible on the streets: cars capable of moving from one point to another without a driver. And you don’t need to buy one to live the experience. In some cities around the world, it is enough to order a robotaxi from an application and see how the vehicle arrives to pick you up, identifying you in certain models with your initials on an LED screen located on the roof, as our colleague Javier Lacort confirmed in San Francisco almost two years ago. Futuristic scene, present problems. In the midst of this transformation of transportation, which aims to offer more safety and comfort, its weak points are also beginning to emerge. We don’t talk about the jams caused by connectivity failures nor of those cars that, for some reason, They start honking their horn at four in the morning. The issue is even more basic: if a user closes the door incorrectly, the vehicle cannot continue operating. The problem is not driving, it is being able to leave. In the case described by CNBC and TechCrunchare blocked if, at the end of the trip, a passenger leaves a door ajar. Waymo confirmed to both media that this detail prevents the car from resuming travel and completing new routes until someone closes it correctly. This is a basic, almost domestic friction that turns a simple oversight into an operational problem and explains why the company has to resort to human support to return its vehicles to service as soon as possible. Pay delivery people. The company is testing a system in Atlanta that alerts nearby delivery drivers of applications such as DoorDash when one of their vehicles is left with the door open. The proposal is simple: approach, close it and allow the robotaxi to operate again. The media even cites the case of a driver who was offered $11.25 for that specific task. They also detail a similar order divided between $6.25 for travel and another $5 after verifying the closure. It is not an isolated case. The Atlanta pilot is not the only example of this specific dependence on human help. Waymo has also turned to users of honka roadside assistance platform, to resolve similar situations in other American cities. In this case, some collaborators received offers of up to $24 to close the door of a stopped robotaxi. More than a local anecdote, these examples draw a clear operational pattern: when the vehicle is immobilized due to a minor detail, the quickest solution is still to send a person. Automatic doors, on the way. Today Waymo operates with a fleet made up entirely of electric vehicles Jaguar I-PACE adapted for autonomous driving, which still depend on human intervention in situations like this. But the company owned by Google assures that this gap has an expiration date, although without specifying it: it announced that its future robotaxis will have automatic closing. Meanwhile, the present of the autonomous car continues to show that double face: sophistication in driving and human dependence on the simplest details. Images | Xataka In Xataka | When San Francisco suffered a blackout, its streets were plunged into chaos for a reason: dumped self-driving cars

now Sony has decided to close the chapter on its home recorders

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The decline of physical media is a reality, but it has not come suddenly or with a single announcement, but rather as a succession of small withdrawals that, added together, mark a change of era. Streaming is gaining ground while discs, players and other devices continue to be present in an increasingly smaller background. Some recent decisions within the industry are only deepening this transformation. Another company taking a step back. Sony recently announced that from February it will progressively cease shipping all its models of Blu-ray recorders and confirmed that there will not be a subsequent generation to take over. The message identifies as part of the closure devices marketed between 2023 and 2024, including the BDZ-ZW1900 and the BDZ-FBT4200, FBT2200 and FBW2200 families. A very Japanese category. Unlike other markets where Blu-ray was mainly associated with movie playback, in Japan home recorders maintained a very specific function for years, that of recording television broadcasts for later viewing. This particularity explains why the announcement has a direct impact, especially on local consumption, where these devices were still present in many salons. However, its disappearance also functions as a symbolic sign of the extent to which even the most resistant niches begin to lose meaning when content access habits change. The temporal sequence. Kyodo News notes that the last units will be shipped this month, marking the effective end of its commercial presence. That moment comes after another less visible previous step: the company had already stopped manufacturing both the recorders themselves as of recordable discs approximately a year earlierand the remaining activity was limited to completing the product output. Streaming, and something else. The audiovisual consumption environment has changed to the point of reducing the practicality of devices that were everyday items for years. When broadcasts can be viewed at any time from online platforms, whether global services or on-demand catalogs from the networks themselves, recording them is no longer a central need. Fewer and fewer manufacturers. Sony’s movement does not appear isolated within the industry. In recent years, several relevant players have been abandoning the consumer Blu-ray market, progressively reducing the number of companies willing to support this category. Oppo completely left its player business in 2018, Samsung stopped manufacturing Blu-ray and UHD models around 2019and LG, which was still one of the big names present, ended production in 2024. The closure of these recorders does not equate to the immediate disappearance of Blu-ray as a consumer format either. Different elements of the ecosystem remain active, from home players to computer optical drives and disk catalogs maintained by other companies. This persistence, although increasingly linked to specific audiences, shows that the transition towards digital does not erase previous technologies at once. Images | Sony | Mateus Andre In Xataka | If the question is how much technology can be packed into a collector’s figure, the answer is: these robots

Unclogging Madrid is not an easy task, but the residents of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos believe they have the solution: close the M-50

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Unclogging Madrid seems like an impossible taskand perhaps it is, since it is one of the densest European capitals in terms of kilometers of highways and motorways. However, that does not prevent its residents from asking for better connections and ways to avoid the gigantic traffic jams that occur every day in the capital. One of the problems has to do with the M-50, and is that the residents of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos have returned to demand the closure of this highway as an urgent measure to end the traffic jams that clog the main access roads to the north of Madrid every day. What happens with the M-50. The neighborhood platforms of both municipalities insist that “closing the M-50 is a definitive solution,” according to has collected Telemadrid. The situation is especially critical, since in some sections of the M-607, especially on the Colmenar highway, traffic density skyrockets every day, causing significant delays both at the entrances and exits to the capital. Neighbors claim that closing this road would relieve pressure on the A-1 and other vital axes in the northern part. What exactly do they propose? What is requested is not to physically close the highway, but to apply a model similar to that of the M-30 or M-40: restrict access to the most polluting vehicles to significantly reduce the volume of cars that circulate daily. This formula, they argue from Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo, would decongest the roads and provide a respite for thousands of drivers who use their vehicle as the only way to get to their jobs. Why the measure is rejected. The administrations have been rejecting the proposal for years for one main reason: if the M-50 is closed or restricted, it would further complicate mobility in Madrid. Many drivers currently use this route precisely to avoid the Low Emission Zones of the M-30 or the M-40. Hence there is fear of diverting traffic to other routes and that the alternatives end up becoming saturated. Other important implications are environmental in nature. And this closure would directly affect the Regional Park of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares and Monte de El Pardo, key protected spaces in the Natura 2000 Network. The main impact would not be to “destroy” the park in its entirety, but rather high-value ecosystems would be fragmented, interrupting ecological corridors, affecting the habitats of protected species and altering natural processes such as aquifer recharge and the dynamics of the Manzanares River. Even the alternatives with tunnels carry significant risks (very invasive works, ventilation, impact on the subsoil and hydrology). Added to this is the indirect effect of adding more traffic and urbanization on an already sensitive stretch. What is being done in the meantime. To try to alleviate the problem, they are already underway the works of a third lane on the M-607specifically in the section between Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo. This measure seeks to reduce congestion in one of the busiest accesses, although residents maintain that it is a partial solution that does not address the underlying problem. Who should decide. According to neighborhood organizations, the competition to execute the closure corresponds to the central government. From the ‘Platform for the Completion of the M-50’ they denounce that the project has been delayed legislature after legislature due to lack of budget and political will, while their requests remain unaddressed. Cover image | Wikipedia (Zarateman) In Xataka | Extremadura is experiencing the same situation that it already experienced in the Roman Empire: an unfinished highway that isolates half the region

The measles outbreak is close to 8,500 cases and puts the health status of the country in check

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Measles has ceased to be a latent threat and has become a worrying statistical reality in Mexicoas the latest consolidated data from February 2026 have pointed out. These leave no doubt that the country is going through its most complex outbreak in decades, accumulating 8,459 confirmed cases since the start of the crisis in 2025. It’s already worrying. The situation has escalated to such a point that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has issued a clear warning: If the chain of transmission is not cut in the coming weeks, Mexico could lose its status as a measles-free country. X-ray of the outbreak. The figures are compelling and draw a map of active transmission in the 32 states of the republic. Although the problem is national, the intensity is not homogeneous, since there are points where positive cases are much more evident. This is something that can be seen in the reports of the Ministry of Health (SSA) of Mexico, which indicates that so far in 2026, 2,143 cases have been reported. But the current epicenter is in Jaliscowhich is where 1,245 cases have been concentrated, representing almost 60% of the reports this entire year. Historical accumulated. Since February 2025, the state of Chihuahua leads the accumulated total with more than 4,400 cases, now followed by the rebound in the west of the country. But the most tragic thing is undoubtedly the human losses, since they have already been confirmed 27 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak in February 2025, with two recent deaths recorded in Tlaxcala and Michoacán This is in addition to the fact that the most vulnerable population is the youngest children, who are between one and four years old. Something that also makes it act as the perfect vector to infect the older population and those at greater risk of suffering from a more serious disease. The root of the problem. Experts point out that it is necessary to have a herd immunity to be able to apply containment to this serious health problem. And for such a contagious virus, at least 95% of the population is required to be vaccinated, something very similar to what was noted in the Covid pandemic in our environment. And the problem is precisely in low vaccination coverage that exists in these regions, causing many to not reach this percentage. And, despite the fact that the SSA reports the application of more than 11.8 million vaccinesthe spread of the virus suggests that there are still susceptible population groups, especially those where there are a greater number of cases right now. Use of face masks. As already happened in the COVID pandemic, there are some states such as Jalisco or Nuevo León that are evaluating the use of masks or face coveringsespecially in closed spaces and with a large influx of people. This is a simple containment barrier to prevent spread while the population finishes its vaccination schedule. The ultimatum. On the technical side, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched an extension until April to evaluate whether Mexico has achieved endemic transmission of this virus. This is something that is achieved when there is no continuous circulation of the virus in a territory for 12 months. Mexico has been fighting this outbreak since February 2025, and if transmission continues uninterrupted beyond the calendar year, measles will once again be considered endemic (typical of the region) and not an imported case. In addition to this, PAHO has confirmed that Mexico currently accounts for 71% of the cases on the entire American continent, a figure that forces health authorities to rethink the containment strategy to prevent its spread to the rest of the neighboring countries. What’s coming The next PAHO meeting in April will be critical in this regard. The decision that Mexico lose “measles-free” status It is not just a diplomatic label, but it implies greater costs in epidemiological surveillance, potential barriers in tourism and the confirmation of a major setback in the country’s public health status. Intensive campaigns are underway, but with the virus present in all states and active community transmission, the Mexican health system faces its most important test of the post-COVID era. A global problem. Although the news focuses on the many cases in Mexico in this case, the reality is that In other parts of the planet cases have also increased. One of the clearest examples is in the United States, where the CDC has raised alarm bells after observing how cases are multiplying in a matter of months. In Spain Official data also indicate that, while in 2023 only 14 cases were recorded, in 2024 they increased to 229 cases and in 2025 the forecast points to almost 400. Images | NIH Ed Us In Xataka | The myth of 37º: it is increasingly clear to us that there is no “normal” body temperature

Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores seemed like the future of commerce. Now they all close

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Amazon has announced the definitive closure of its 57 Amazon Fresh stores and its 15 Amazon Go establishmentsending a decade of experiments to reinvent physical shopping. Fresh They were classic supermarkets, but with technological touches. Go They were stores without cashiers where you entered, took products and left: sensors and cameras charged you automatically. The only staff was the replacement staff. Why is it important. This is Amazon’s most visible failure in its attempt to move its e-commerce dominance to the physical world. A company that has made a success of selling everything online has not been able to sell basic products in physical stores while being profitable. The context. Go opened in 2018, Fresh in 2020. Both represented the futuristic vision of retail: cutting-edge technology, extreme automation and a clear obsession with eliminating friction. Amazon has admitted that it “has not created a distinctive customer experience with the right economic model.” An elegant way of saying that they have not found enough clients willing to pay the extra cost of all that innovation. Yes, but. Amazon is not abandoning the food sector. Now it’s going to convert some locations into Whole Foods, the chain he bought in 2017. Whole Foods has more than 550 stores, has grown 40% in sales and will open one hundred new stores. In addition, Amazon is also already delivering food at home in 5,000 cities in the United States. Between the lines. These closures say a lot about the impressive technology that these stores had: not even it can compensate for a mediocre proposal. Amazon Go eliminated queues, but perhaps that did not solve much if its real competitors did not have a problem there. Of course, “Just Walk Out” technology now operates in 360 third-party stores and more than 40 Amazon fulfillment centers. As is often the case, innovation survives where it makes economic sense. The failure of Go and Fresh was seen coming for a long time. The pattern. History repeats itself. Amazon has closed physical bookstores, stores pop-up and now also these concepts. Each closing tells the same story: mastering online does not make you a good offline seller. Especially if you aim for profitability. Bezos built his empire by eliminating intermediaries and friction at Amazon, but the physical supermarket has friction for a few reasons: people want to touch the fruit, compare products, decide on the fly… Human behavior cannot always be improved by algorithmic efficiency. Go deeper. The failure contrasts with that of other technological giants that in one way or another have managed to dominate the retail. Apple dominates its stores because it sells an experience, not just its products. And Tesla controls its points of sale because the electric car requires a certain evangelization. Amazon tried to apply its e-commerce formula (full automation, speed, elimination of staff) to a business that simply has other dynamics. A supermarket is not a logistics warehouse. And not even an entire Amazon, with all its resources, can impose its vision of the future if the customer does not buy it. In Xataka | I have decided to become independent from all US technology and embrace European technology. This is how I’m getting it Featured image | Simon Bak

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