Remember Webvan? So Does Amazon

A better comparison would be with Fresh Direct, not Webvan.

It looks like Amazon is focusing on a large yet concentrated local market (Seattle).

As FD has demonstrated here in NYC, an efficient, local service can work.

I can't believe people thought WebVan would make money because computer scientists know how to solve a travelling salesman problem.

The asynchronous delivery is important -- cold storage for goods. I don't want to wait for a delivery.