如果你沒有關注最近亞馬遜的第四季度收益電話會議，看完這篇文章，你就知道亞馬遜去年的成績如何了。

收益增長不錯，但還不夠好

2016年第四季度，亞馬遜的云計算部門——亞馬遜網絡服務（Amazon Web Services）實現了35.6億美元的營收，在上年同期24億美元的基礎上增長了47%。略有遺憾的是，當季營收仍略低于業界給出的36億美元的預期。

亞馬遜公司的當季總收入為437.4億美元，環比增長了22%，但仍未達到湯森路透此前給出的446.8億美元的預期。由于營收增幅弱于預期的緣故，上周五上午，亞馬遜股價下跌了3.5個百分點，收于每股810.96美元。

大量招聘員工

亞馬遜公司的員工總數從去年四季度的306,800人的基礎上增長了48%，達到341,400人，這其中包括全職和兼職員工，但不包括臨時人員和承包商。2015年第四季度，亞馬遜的員工還只有230,800人。如果這還不足以說明亞馬遜的招聘速度，請看下面這個數據：據科技媒體Geekwire報道，五年前亞馬遜的全球員工總數只有32,000人。

目前看來，亞馬遜的大規模招聘勢頭還將持續一段時間。幾周前亞馬遜就宣稱要在未來18個月里在全美范圍內招聘10萬名全職員工。亞馬遜CEO杰夫·貝索斯表示，這些新增員工將幫助公司“開設新的訂單履行中心，以及在云計算、機器學習和高級物流等領域繼續創新?！?

亞馬遜ECHO成為一款明星產品

按照慣例，亞馬遜并未披露智能音箱Echo的銷量數據。但是在與股東和分析師的電話會議上，亞馬遜的財務總監布萊恩·奧薩瓦斯基反復強調了一點：在今年的假日季期間，Echo音箱的銷量比去年同期增長了9倍。奧薩瓦斯基還介紹到，Echo音箱自帶的智能軟件Alexa目前已經擁有了大約4000個“技能”。所謂的“技能”就是用戶通過Alexa軟件能夠實現的用途——比如從達美樂（Domino）預訂一份披薩，或是替你在第一資本（Capital One）的銀行賬戶上存錢等等。

根據市場研究機構消費者情報研究伙伴公司（Consumer Intelligence Research Partners）估算，Echo智能音箱廣泛推出后不到兩年，它在全美的安裝量就已達到820萬部左右。

AWS云服務迅猛發展

雖然亞馬遜云服務的營收沒能達到分析師們的預期。但從35.6億美元的季度營收來看，AWS的業務規模今年有望能夠達到140億美元。

雖然坊間有很多關于AWS業務停止降價的傳聞，但這種情況并未發生。2016年第四季度，亞馬遜仍然宣布了針對多項AWS服務的7種降價措施。奧薩瓦斯基還表示，包括Salesforce和Workday等知名軟件公司在內的許多新客戶都打算將來更多地使用AWS。

與此同時，包括微軟Azure和谷歌在內的一些重磅競爭對手也都競相在云計算平臺上發力。最近，社交應用Snapchat的母公司Snap Inc披露了一份遞交給美國證監會的文件，表示該公司計劃在未來五年內，向谷歌購買價值20億美元的云服務。

亞馬遜PRIME的用戶群正在增長

Prime是亞馬遜推出的一項高級會員服務，用戶只要每年繳納99美元就能享受這項服務，而且還可以享受到視頻服務以及其它特權。亞馬遜稱Prime用戶對視頻和音樂內容的消費量已經增長了一倍多，但依然沒有透露任何實際數字。目前，亞馬遜Prime視頻服務已在全球200多個國家開通。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

If you missed Amazon's fourth quarter earnings call recently, here's what you need to know about how Amazon ended 2016.

REVENUE GROWTH WAS GOOD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Amazon Web Services, the retail giant's cloud computing unit, logged revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, up 47% from $2.4 billion a year ago. Small problem: Consensus estimate from FactSet was for $3.6 billion.

Overall revenue at the company came in at $43.74 billion, up 22% year over year. But analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $44.68 billion. As a result of the misses, Amazon's stock price Friday morning was off about 3.5% to $810.96 per share.

IT'S HIRING

Total employee headcount—including full- and part-time people but not temps or contractors—was up 48% to 341,400 for the quarter compared to 306,800 for the fourth quarter last year. For context, there were 230,800 such employees during the fourth quarter of 2015. And, as Geekwire points out, total Amazon headcount worldwide five years ago was a mere 32,000 employees.

It looks like that trajectory will continue. A few weeks ago Amazon pledged to add 100,000 new full-time workers in the U.S. over the next 18 months. In a statement Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said that the additional people will help the company "open new fulfillment centers, and continue to invent in areas like cloud technology, machine learning, and advanced logistics."

AMAZON ECHO IS A STAR

Amazon, per usual, did not break out sales numbers for Echo, its connected home speaker. But during the call with shareholders and analysts, Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavksy reiterated a claim from the earnings release that unit sales grew nine times during the holiday period compared to the year prior's numbers. Olsavksy also touted that Alexa—Amazon's smart software within Echo—now has approximately 4,000 "skills." A "Skill" is Amazon speak for an application that lets users tell Alexa what to do—whether that's ordering a Domino's pizza, or making a deposit in your Capital One bank account.

New numbers from market research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, estimate that 8.2 million Echo units have been installed in the U.S. since the product became broadly available less than two years ago.

AWS IS ON A TEAR

Analysts expected more cloud revenue than they got for the quarter. But based on that $3.56 billion in quarterly revenue, AWS is on pace to be a $14 billion business over the next year.

And all that talk about the end of cloud price cuts? It didn't happen. The company announced seven price cuts to various AWS services in the quarter, Olsavsky noted. He also pointed to new customers—including software companies like Salesforce.com and Workday—that plan to use AWS more in the future.

All of this at a time when big cloud competitors, like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform are beefing up. Recently, Snap Inc., the parent company of ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, disclosed in its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to buy $2 billion worth of Google cloud services over five years.

BONUS: PRIME IS GROWING

Amazon Prime members, who pay $99 a year for the shopping service plus access to video and other perks, tapped into more content than ever, according to the company. Amazon claimed that consumption of video and music more than doubled, but again without providing actual numbers.

Amazon Prime Video is now available in 200 countries.