Amazon vending machine turns up at Vegas airport to catch returning CES folk

By Trevor Mogg January 10, 2014

amazon vending machine turns vegas airport tempt ces folk — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, Amazon has gone and installed a vending machine at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to catch tech folk making their way back home from this week’s CES over the next couple of days.

Spotted by GeekWire, the machine is offering a range of Amazon goodies, including its Kindle Fire HDX tablets and Paperwhite e-reader – perfect for killing some time on the long, or short, flight home. Thinking about it though, the CES folk, if anyone, would surely already be armed with their e-reader or tablet of choice, so would hardly be tempted to buy another one before checking in, right?

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Perhaps some of the accessories it’s selling, such as the PowerFast adapter or Kindle covers and cases, will prove more tempting.

The machine was reportedly set up in the last day or two, though it’s not the first time the e-commerce company has stepped out of the Web and into the physical world in order to drum up a bit of extra business. In November the company opened a pop-up shop in a San Francisco mall with vending machines similar to the one at McCarran. The shop, which stayed open for two weeks, was Amazon’s way of giving consumers a chance to ‘try before they buy’.

With all eyes on CES over the last few days, and Amazon not present at the event, the vending machine at McCarran airport is presumably the Web giant’s way of reminding attendees on their way home that despite its absence, the company will be as busy as ever in 2014 competing with many of those who hit the headlines with their new gadgets and gizmos at the Vegas tech extravaganza this week.

[Images: GeekWire]

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