From Seeking Alpha:
When taking into account how many devices or computers Microsoft, Google and Apple are on, it would appear they would easily dominate Amazon in the voice assistant market as, together, they are embedded in hundreds of millions of mobile phones and computers.
Considering estimates for Amazon Echo sales are probably in the single-digit millions, it would suggest the e-commerce giant has little chance to effectively take market share from the other tech powerhouses.
Not only do I not think that’s how this will play out, but I believe Amazon will end up dominating this market because of the overall view the other companies are taking, and their slow response to growing consumer and business interest.
If that’s the case, the company will add a third revenue and earnings line to its already formidable cloud service and e-commerce business.
. . . .
Beyond the obvious opportunity to take share in a potentially explosive, relatively new market that is just catching on with consumers and businesses, there’s a reason Amazon is aggressively going after the voice assistant market at this time: Its competitors have decided to take a much slower approach to the business. Why are they doing that?
My take on it is Google, Apple and Microsoft in particular, view assistant voice services as complementary or ancillary to their main products. For Amazon, it represents an entirely new market.
. . . .
[Amazon’s] major competitors already sell the devices or computers the voice assistants are embedded in, and don’t consider them a priority. This is why they’ve been slow to respond to developing apps and services for them, leaving a big opportunity for Amazon to step into.
Sensing blood in the water, Amazon is going after this market in a way that it will probably gain significant market share before its competitors understand what is at stake. But similar to Wal-Mart, it’s Amazon, because of it having so much upside and the most to gain, that will benefit the most from winning voice.
I think this is why its competitors have been slow to respond. They understand consumer demand for voice, but don’t look at it as a key component of growth. Again, it’s considered more of an add-on to existing products; something Amazon doesn’t view voice as.
. . . .
For Apple, it has struggled with Siri, as even its staunchest fans have complained about it not keeping up with Amazon and Google specifically. It is less accurate and the functionality isn’t as good as its competitors.
While Apple is probably, to some degree, guaranteed a consumer base because of its brand strength, it won’t likely be expanding beyond that, based upon its closed-system strategy. On the other hand, with Amazon offering a different device and rapidly moving ahead in the app realm, consumers may prefer to use Echo and Alexa before Siri, even with the convenience of having it embedded in their iPhones.
Link to the rest at Seeking Alpha
That would work.
And a Faraday cage to keep it in when I DON’T want to be heard.
Al, all you have to do is unplug it.
Thank you. I will have to look for a sale and get one to try out…
I always wake up before my alarm (its like the act of setting an alarm cues my internal clock too, so I end up waking about 10 minutes before my alarm goes off).
What do you folks with multiple Alexi do with them? I haven’t mastered asking my phone for stuff, so I am unfamiliar with why to ask questions of any other device (except rhetorical complaints when editing or troubleshooting).
Al the Behind the Power Curve TechNoob
Alexa can do so much more than I ask of her. I’ve surprised myself by how often I ask what the temperature is, or the weather in general. I also often ask her to tell me one of her corny jokes. The timers/alarms come in handy. And as I’m reading something or watching TV, a question will cross my mind and I ask Alexa for the facts. Silly facts, like “Alexa, how tall is James Comey?” (He’s 6’8″ so why isn’t he a basketball star?) She has also read a couple of books to me, and I’ve listened to some radio stations I can’t get locally. Sometimes I’ll have her play some music. Early on, I got news briefings, but have stopped doing that now that I have Sling TV (which includes CNN).
I personally think that that the that the authors estimates of sales for the Alexa are low. Most people I know have several located throughout their homes. In our house we have one in each bedroom (3) and another in the living room. My 70 year old mother mothers 2 for herself. We all all love them.
As for the connection problems, I personally haven’t had any long drops in service but I have had a different first world problem. I use my dot as an alarm clock and I recently had a very bad cold. My inability to speak clearly when I woke up made it very difficult to cancel the alarm.
I’ve actually stopped using Alexa as an alarm. It was too easy to say “Alexa, snooze” or “Alexa, stop alarm” while still half asleep and I found myself oversleeping. I’ve gone back to a conventional alarm clock which forces me to open my eyes and move to turn it off.
I never have to wake up early, so have never used it as an alarm — except when I’m wide-awake. If I’m doing something that could cause me to lose track of time when I have an appointment, I set the alarm or timer to let me know when I have to leave the house.
If you really need to be out of bed when the alarm goes off, put the alarm on the other side of the room, or in the loo.
For those who use OSx, I recommend Pester, a small app that lets you set multiple alarms and overlays the time until the next alarm over the dock icon.
This one has been working for 30 years.
https://www.amazon.com/Westclox-Tourino-Keywound-Analog-Salton/dp/B000EPMZAE/ref=zg_bs_108319011_46?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R16CB0J91W04S3C1X535
Wow.
Price has really gone up. I had one in college. Never failed me.
Straker, my brother does that. I suggested he always set two or three alarms, a couple of minutes apart, so Alexa will keep hounding him even after he tells her to stop.
Maybe the CIA was doing a software upgrade. (Kidding, sort of)
https://xkcd.com/1807/
That is great!
Last night, both my Echos lost their internet connection. Everything else was fine on wifi: Kindle, phone, Microcell, and TV/Roku. Maybe Alexa was just tired and needed a rest. Or maybe Amazon did some tinkering with the Echos overnight. Both work fine today.
A couple of times lately I’ve set timers on the Echo, Alexa says she’s setting the timer, but then fails to alert me when time’s up. She’s such a trickster.
I had exactly the same experience last night. When I tried to “wake” Alexa the Echo unit would light up briefly but otherwise there was no response. It was back up and running by about 1:00 AM (ET). This is the second service interruption I’ve had in a week, although the other was the fault of the “smart” wall socket switch, not Amazon.
When I first asked Alexa a question, she told me my Echo had lost its connection to the internet. When I tried later to get a response, she didn’t even light up. Ditto for the second Alexa. I wonder what happened. When the Echo updates, there’s a light indicating that’s what’s happening.
Brutally?
Anything to try to get people to read what they think is important I guess …