I really want to believe that is the case as well. It is possible they really do not have the possibility of implementing it soon or they really do, but there is one thing I have known about these guys and their strategies which is to use rumors and speculations to get public opinions before they make a pretty big decision. Well, the public opinion is glaring and it seems most of their users who are crypto enthusiast obviously want it, so it is possible, rumor or no rumor, we may see them activating it soon or in coming year, with CNBC even announcing them registering some domains about 5 days ago.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/01/amazon-buys-crypto-domains-bitcoin-ethereum.htmlSince amazon is buying crypto domains it will probably not take long before they accept bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The rumors seems to be true and like you I expect it to be implemented this year or the next. The only thing I can say for certain is that it would take less than a year from now for amazon to accept bitcoin if it is really true that they are buying domains related to cryptocurrency. If not, then it might take a while for them to accept btc and crypto.