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WestEst101 OP t1_iycwwmv wrote

A recent report indicating that Amazon's Alexa division is on track to lose $10 billion US this year is raising questions about the future of the entire voice-assistant industry.

Microsoft Cortana has already pulled out, leaving just three large players (Apple Siri, Google, and Amazon Alexa)

Having been seen as the new interface for computing and AI (much like the moise was at one point), some feel the industry is already doomed. Others feel it’s still in its infancy.

The problem is twofold:

  1. A lack of an ability to monetize the industry

  2. Integration with other computing elements. Google’s platform is already embedded in its systems, as is Apple’s, but Amazon’s is not. Amazon’s has many apps (allowing you to even turn on your washing machine), but there isn’t an easy way to let people know about them. It’s like buying a smartphone without knowing an AppStore exists.

No easy solutions

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MpVpRb t1_iydrj9i wrote

>The problem is twofold:

It is useless

It works poorly

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beaverusiv t1_iyf4a7n wrote

It's also a service that a company owns that sucks up your data. Talk to me again when it is a self-sufficient non-internet-connected peripheral

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limitless__ t1_iydk5nh wrote

Siri drives high dollar device sales so it's a win. OK Google drives ad-clicks so it's a win. Alexa drives absolutely nothing so financially it's a disaster.

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Khoakuma t1_iydsq7j wrote

I think Amazon were envisioning that Alexa will enable the next level of impulse online purchases. People simply saying "Alexa buy X for me" in their living room and it will automatically order X off Amazon for them.

But like... most people aren't THAT irresponsible with their money... yet. Even impulse buyers wanna see a picture and a price first before clicking order. Not just have Amazon pick god knows what at whichever price. And only find out when it arrive at your doorstep. There might be some people who use it this way but not enough to be a multi-billion dollar industry. Seems like a silly idea for now.

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PixelCultMedia t1_iydttyj wrote

The online menus to purchase things were also restrictive and unruly when trying to compare or read reviews. Totally useless for the way I purchase things.

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Dje4321 t1_iydwe2n wrote

At most it allows people to place extra orders but no one does that because it sucks at it. Telling alexa to order more dog food is meaningless when it sends you a 40lb bag of puppy chow instead of your normal 13lb pound order of X brand

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goodsam2 t1_iydkndt wrote

Is it that they are losing money to get you in the ecosystem.

So you have Alexa connected washing machine, Roomba, lights etc?

The plan was to lose money and get people in the ecosystem but the ecosystem seems niche. I'm interested in some of this stuff but also IDK what the numbers look like but 60% of people hate them listening which if you are a couple that means you aren't adding that many more.

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