Amazon has had an interesting run this year. The Fire Phone, their attempt at a smartphone with their forked Android OS resulted in a significant writeoff. Meanwhile, they apparently press on and have unveiled their latest toy…the Amazon Echo.
The Echo is basically a speaker that also has a voice recognition mode, so you can ask it questions, in the same way you would Siri, Google Now, etc. Echo, aka ‘Alexa’ (the default codeword) Â is always listening, and is always able to answer your question.
Echo is being offered to a limited set for $99(for Prime Members) or $199 for everyone else. I’m not sure the utility of a talking bluetooth speaker. They also have an app…so I can do the same thing with the phone I have, assuming I don’t like the software already trying to do this.
But what do you think? Is this an attempt to make it easier to shop at Amazon? Another moonshot like the Fire Phone? A possible flop?
Alexa…tell me why you exist.
Related articles
Amazon announces Echo, a $199 voice-driven home assistant(arstechnica.com)
Amazon’s Latest Effort To Get You Shopping Is This Speaker(huffingtonpost.com)
