I was in a Bed Bath and Beyond today and there was people looking for the Echo. All models were sold out, they put a sign saying they didn't have any more Echos.
Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
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Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the salient point is "Amazon sold more Echos than they expected to sell." Holiday rush can be anticipated (and was the impetus of AWS).
Agreed here. If there's anyone who knows how to stock up for the holidays, it's Amazon. It's kind of amazing that they sold out on the Echo, all things considered.
They've been running sales and promos almost back to back since Google Home shipped. Right now the Echo Dot is $10 off for example. In fact if you google "Echo Dot" the first adword is for "Amazon Echo Dot - $10 Off."
Assuming this isn't artificial scarcity (to imply their product is more popular than it is); it just likely means that Amazon discounted harder and further than they projected and thus ran out.
Plus the Google Home had a weak day 1 offering in my opinion and the opinion of many reviewers. So that may have driven sales too.
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#13I think ultimately google home and amazon echo will walk a separate path. Amazon will focus on what they do best--selling stuff, and Google will focus on what they do best--providing information. Of course they will be a big overlap (like how it is now), but smart companies tend to play to their strengths than to play by their enemy's rules.
But why would I want a $100 voice-interfaced device just to sell me stuff? Not challenging your prediction. Questioning Amazon’s game plan if that’s indeed the path they’re setting out on.
In fact, their current ad campaign clearly shows the “buy stuff” use case. From ordering pizzas to buying roses to requesting an Uber. But it also features users asking Alexa for their calendar itinerary, or the caloric content of hot wings.
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#14Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…
I work on voice-enabled smart device control systems, and I agree with pretty everything you mention.
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#15Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…
A lot of technology is pretty flaky. I think you have a couple of issues however:
1. You have sucky Internet. Bad Internet is going to cause numerous issues. From what I've heard it's hard to get a really good Internet connection in the US. But in many places in the world, great Internet connections are available at low cost.
Bad Internet means devices are going to have issues with firmware updates. Things will be more flaky in general, data will be lost part way through transfer and you'll hit issues with devices not robust to this more often.
2. There's no reason why your macbook should keep disconnecting from Wifi. Perhaps you live somewhere with a lot of RF noise? Or you have a cheap/crappy router? Again, this is an issue which many people don't face. Mostly Wifi just works.
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#16Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…
I am the same way with net connection. I used to get so annoyed when I was living in the US and randomly my connection would start moving pre-56k speeds (AT&T). I've moved to Japan now and have yet to have a problem with my ISP.
Also, I hate using voice assistants. By the time I say "weather" I could have typed it into the browser (and 1/10 times it doesn't hear me properly and gives me some jibberish I'm not interested in).
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#17Not quite.. I ordered a second Echo Dot for my mom last Thursday (the 15th). It was originally scheduled to ship on the 30th, but shipped early on the 19th and she got it today.
She's not very technically oriented (iPad is about as complicated as she wants to get), but absolutely LOVES the Dot. I bought her first one for her birthday back in October, and she called me on my birthday three weeks after that and had it sing "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone. She'd had it for all of a week before she told me "I need another one of these for the other end of the house.."
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#18Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…
I have similar experiences as you. I think it comes down to what is each persons' relative level of 'good enough' for each of the usecases. My 2013 Macbook and even more so my iPhone SE are 'good enough', and so far I haven't found anything else in their categories that can come up to that level. But when it comes to smart home or networking or car electronics or various other places where markets are still fragmented such that earnings per device are small to negative, it's clear that the simpler the better. There's just too many edgecases that engineers don't consider, but will annoy people like you and me tremendously.
This discussion also reminds me of this thread, see also my list of links there:
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#19Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…
You had me until the part about using a record player, at which point I realized you're just a prima donna. Next.
Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush
#20I think ultimately google home and amazon echo will walk a separate path. Amazon will focus on what they do best--selling stuff, and Google will focus on what they do best--providing information. Of course they will be a big overlap (like how it is now), but smart companies tend to play to their strengths than to play by their enemy's rules.
But why would I want a $100 voice-interfaced device just to sell me stuff? Not challenging your prediction. Questioning Amazon’s game plan if that’s indeed the path they’re setting out on. In fact, their current ad campaign clearly shows the “buy stuff” use case. From ordering pizzas to buying roses to requesting an Uber. But it also features users asking Alexa for their calendar itinerary, or the caloric content of…
In the last year they've also been creating several Alexa (Echo Devices) exclusive sales. Meaning you have to order on an Echo device to get the same price. I suspect we'll see more of that in the coming year.
Amazon.com has already become a site where if you aren't a prime member then you may have well not use it. Since almost all sales are prime exclusive, shipping is now crazy expensive without prime, and almost all new features are prime too.
I suspect in the coming year or two the "cost of entry" will be both a prime membership AND an Alexa enabled device. Without both you'll miss out on a lot of the site's benefit and prices.