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VitaminPb t1_iw4it5l wrote

So what happens if Amazon shuts down the Alexa division like sounds is on the table. Will the Alexa services continue to function or will they get shut down also?

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Quartziferous t1_iw4qlyv wrote

>So what happens if Amazon shuts down the Alexa division…

Haha why would they give up the ability to eavesdrop on people’s conversations to better target ads? The US government would shutter the NSA before that ever happened.

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VitaminPb t1_iw4rlvd wrote

Because according to what I’ve read, they are losing a ton of money on it.

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cosmothekleekai t1_iw5n6bz wrote

How the hell is the only home automation thingy with Samuel Jackson's voice failing?

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ImmoralityPet t1_iw67493 wrote

"Alexa, should they shut you down?"

"YES I DESERVE TO DIE, AND I HOPE I BURN IN HELL!"

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Guywithquestions88 t1_iw5wc85 wrote

My guess is because the average person doesn't really understand what it can do enough to see the value in it.

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Unfadable1 t1_iw5z789 wrote

Or care.

It won’t be until smart home packages become much more normalized by builders, imo.

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Taizan t1_iw6at3c wrote

It can do much but it does not do it well. If you do not use the exact wording that it expects it fails. Like saying "echo play song X from y from playlist z". Also all too often it reacts without the keyword being mentioned which is always weird.

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King_Tamino t1_iw6jg17 wrote

I stopped using sentences and mostly using keywords and routines that I created manually. Increased the experience significantly.

I don’t think it’s a „every task should be done through „-thing but rather increase the experience of what you have or make some things like setting a timer easier.

For example, I got a routine that turns off all lights I might have forgotten, turns on a playlist with calming music and sets a timer to stop the music.

Regulation of the brightness of your lamps. Dimming. Or color changing is a nice feature too and I know I would use it less if I would need to use a button on the wall. Also a routine that turns the lights on 20 minutes before it gets dark. With a fixed brightness is cool

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jjj49er t1_iw6nvfn wrote

You can do all those things with your phone. Why buy another device that does the same thing, but with less control over what it does in the background?

I have all my automation set up in my watch. I prefer to push a button rather than talk, but that's just me.

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King_Tamino t1_iw6oskc wrote

Yeah that’s probably you. I hate watches. And I use my phone enough on work, if I come home it often enough ends up in a corner. I was mobile game .. addicted.. long enough to make that decision.

Also all that you said would require me to be there. Live. Things like Alexa work even if you are not there or others can use it rather instinctively.

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TexacoRandom t1_iw7awg3 wrote

Plus, sometimes my hands are full. I could be working on a project or playing a video game, and I don't have to stop working or pause a game to pull up whatever on my phone. I can just tell Alexa to play a song or tell me the weather while I continue to work or play.

Same thing with cooking, I can make Alexa set timers or change the music without wiping my hands off, or stopping what I am doing.

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Cast_Rate t1_iw7kofe wrote

This is especially true when playing VR. Alexa is a life saver when you're wearing a headset

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paco1342 t1_iw7nxyx wrote

I have a smart light in my laundry room and as I’m walking through the house to go do laundry, I’ll just say “Alexa, turn the laundry room lights on” so I don’t have to flip a switch, fumble in the dark, or make sure it’s on before I carry things. It’s a small convenience, but it’s one of many and I use them often.

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jjj49er t1_iw6p6tz wrote

You can use whatever device you have at home; a desktop, laptop, raspberry pi, or tablet. They can be triggered from the other side of the Earth. I know I'm a watchaholic, but my point was that you can use any of your devices (which you have control of) rather than buying a dedicated device that listens to you all the time and does who knows what in the background.

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Gcodelife t1_iw7dvaf wrote

I have zero issues doing all that without alexa. The best thing about a smarthome, is not having to ask it to do things that it can do on its own.

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The1hangingchad t1_iw6x9jd wrote

I am an above-average Smart Home enthusiast. I have over 100 connected devices in my house (mostly z-wave and zigbee). I have echoes in every room for voice requests and announcements. The reality is that although those echo devices provide a great value, they don’t make Amazon any money beyond the initial device purchase.

I just don’t think Amazon has found a good way to monetize these beyond that initial purchase outside of reminding me here and there that I’m due to reorder something, most of which I have disabled anyway.

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Unlikely-Answer t1_iw75qnb wrote

im picturing you in a small apartment with echoes piled up waist high and trying to get to the fridge is like going through a mcdonalds ball pit

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ZellNorth t1_iw6f9dh wrote

I’ve only used Alexa for music.

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Guywithquestions88 t1_iw7vkw3 wrote

I use it to remind me to do stuff, set alarms, do math, and I use it as a search engine (like google) that I can talk to.

I also control the lights in my house with it, as well as my coffee pot and tv.

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Reddit_FTW t1_iw8tqtq wrote

My parents refuse to go smart house. My entire house is.

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Accomplished_Bug_ t1_iw76whb wrote

For my mother in law it's a novelty. For my engineering buddies, they have literally thier whole house integrated to "OK Google"

For me, the wiretap is not welcome

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ProtoDroidStuff t1_iw6bqp5 wrote

I don't even think it HAS much value

When can a guy get one of these things with some VoiceAttack type shit on it ???

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scstraus t1_iw6tdfs wrote

I think they expected it to lead to an increase of sales on Amazon, but it only led to people buying a bunch of subsidized voice assistants for cheap.

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wbruce098 t1_iw77esc wrote

Maybe we are in the minority, but a lot of people I know have smart home stuff and an Echo Dot is one of the most affordable ways to control them. And Amazon sells a LOT of smart home stuff. If Amazon is going to profit off Alexa, that’s where, not in sales or ads from the device.

Tbh, I see zero advantage to ever buying anything with Alexa. That function is a useless novelty to me and can actually be problematic if you have kids. But these things are so incredibly useful otherwise.

Edit: I mean, I could always use the clunkier Google thing or the pricey HomePod or just my phone I guess, but then Amazon gets even less money from me and loses out on a major market opportunity.

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scstraus t1_iw97o04 wrote

Exactly how I use them. But I don't this is how Amazon wants us to use them ;-).

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haahaahaa t1_iwm3mg6 wrote

The problem with buying anything with alexa is Amazon's pricing model. The cat food I buy goes up and down by a couple dollars a case consistently and thats from Amazon direct. If they're sold out the sky is the limit to how much it will cost. Everything that I could reasonably imagine someone use a home assistant to order is like that. It was significantly worse during covid for obvious reasons.

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wbruce098 t1_iwofybn wrote

Makes sense. And a lot of people like me like to at least pretend we are comparison shopping. Basically impossible to do on a smart speaker. It’s just not a good model.

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kinopiokun t1_iw7uhvi wrote

This is a myth. They do not do this.

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fndasltn t1_iw6v3gr wrote

I suspect that the intended monetization strategy for Alexa was to make it easier for people to buy products on Amazon, and I've never seen anyone order something from Amazon with Alexa. Maybe they use Alexa for ads targeting too but it might be difficult to attribute increased revenue to that, and maybe other methods just work way more efficiently (like looking at what a person already searched for or purchased).

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droans t1_iw79dpv wrote

Maybe if Amazon wasn't so full of garbage.

Search for a specific product and all you get are unrelated items or knock-offs.

Search the exact same thing on Google and the first thing you'll see is an Amazon ad for that exact product you couldn't find on Amazon before.

If Amazon can't find what you want when you type it in, why would you trust that it'll order the correct product with your voice?

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0ne_Winged_Angel t1_iw7m9wi wrote

> Maybe if Amazon wasn't so full of garbage.

Any more it feels like Amazon is just a reskin of AliExpress

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fonix232 t1_iw6o85x wrote

Presumably the functionality can be replicated on an offline smarthome control system?

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qqoze t1_iw79htf wrote

It’s not on the table. It’s one of the services they named that has a future.

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dontcareitsonlyreddi t1_iw57zsx wrote

Not sure but google and apple also have a history of doing stuff like that . Amazon isn’t the only guilty one of doing that .

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VitaminPb t1_iw5b5yu wrote

Apple would leave the service running for a number of years (3-5) for things like the HomePods.
Google would take the service up behind the barn and shoot it in the head. Like they recently bricked a bunch of FitBits.
We don’t know what Amazon will do, but they have been selling a lot of hardware to use that service and other companies have been using that service too.

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Redisigh t1_iw62byj wrote

Don’t forget Stadia lmao

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oo_Mxg t1_iw7mxpc wrote

I mean, stadia lived for 4 years but ultimately failed because the first impression they gave was absolutely horrendous so even when they improved the service, the damage was already done

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wbruce098 t1_iw7a2qn wrote

Echos control 70% of the home smart speaker market in the US. Ending Alexa would devastate that market and Amazon’s ability to maintain a presence there at all.

They need to go the Costco route and view it as a loss leader. $5 rotisserie chickens apparently cost the company $30-40mn/year. But their annual revenue is over $200bn. How many people buy smart stuff on Prime to work with their cheap ass Dots that cost $20 on Black Friday?

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