【Tags】

Where Amazon Prime's Dash Buttons are Tagsgoing, they don't need physical buttons.

A year and a half after their introduction, Amazon's one-press product ordering system is entering the next plane of existence. Now, instead of ordering physical buttons for products that affix to walls, washing machines, bathrooms and fridges so you can order necessities like Play-Doh, laundry detergent and condoms on a semi-frequent basis, new Amazon virtual Dash Buttons live in your computer and mobile device.

The company quietly rolled out the new Dash button option on Friday morning.

When Amazon launched Dash buttons in July of 2015, each one cost $4.99. Soon Amazon was reimbursing Prime customers for the cost of the button on first purchases of the Dash-connected product. By last summer, Amazon had dropped the Dash button price to 99 cents and was still giving out a $4.99 credit on first purchases with each Dash button. Now, because the buttons can be digital, they're free and you can use them to just start ordering. You can still order physical Dash buttons.

Before you credit Amazon with some sort of altruism, just remember that the whole idea is to make it easier to order and reorder products from, well, Amazon (much like how putting an Amazon Echo in your house lets you make Amazon shopping lists just by talking to Alexa). Buttons nearby when you remember that you need mouthwash or detergent is just smart. It remains to be seen if the same buttons hidden in an app or on your Amazon account on its website (look for "Your Dash Buttons" under "Your Account") will be as effective.

Amazon has not released any numbers on just how many Prime members use Dash buttons. What we do know is that there are now hundreds of physical buttons available. The virtual buttons are customizable and available on millions of products. However, the program is still confined to products available with Amazon Prime shipping. Additionally, the Prime service, which offers free, two-day shipping and access to Prime video is still $99 a year.

The new Amazon Dash Virtual buttons are live now on the Amazon Shopping Mobile App and on the Web site. A full walk-through of the updated service is available here.

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})