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Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

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Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#61

Post by duxup »

lbacaj wrote: post #32

Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much. I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this…

Yeah I really wonder if these speakers are a sort of fad that folks feel is super cool and gravitate too ... and pretty quickly find there isn't a lot of use.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#62

Post by vertis »

Disclaimer: I haven't played with this since 2016, so may be out of date.

Having played with the Alexa and Google home. My take on why there are no hits is that it's very clunky to invoke apps, especially for one-off queries.

"Hey, Alexa/Google, Ask to do " or some variation on that. Starting an app and then interacting with it works fine for some use cases but not all.

It really needs to be a flow of install app for given type of task, say searching for a hotel, and then like Android, there are defaults. So I say "hey alexa, find me a hotel room in blah" and it just knows to hand off to whatever my favourite is.

So long as all the core easy commands are only accessible to Google/Amazon, this is going to continue to be a problem.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#64

Post by taeric »

jessriedel wrote: post #28
gdne wrote: post #20

The problem is the interface. Voice commands and their responses are linear, one dimensional. It’s difficult to represent complex interaction within that scope. Think of all the investment that has gone into telephone based automated customer support. The best interface conceived so far is the dreaded phone tree. That’s essentially the same interface smart speakers are exposing. The opportunity is to figure out how t…

The medium of voice is very rich and capable when talking to a human, so this is something limited by the intelligence of the system you're interacting with.

Is it? I mean, some folks do great talking. Lots of them. Most are in narrative communication. If you get much beyond that, you jump to physical interesting quickly. Even telling is benefited with gestures. Consider how vague most spoken directions are. When you can augment with pointing, things are easier.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#65

Post by patrickxb »

gdne wrote: post #20

The problem is the interface. Voice commands and their responses are linear, one dimensional. It’s difficult to represent complex interaction within that scope. Think of all the investment that has gone into telephone based automated customer support. The best interface conceived so far is the dreaded phone tree. That’s essentially the same interface smart speakers are exposing. The opportunity is to figure out how t…

I don't find it appealing to use voice as an interface. I'd much rather have a button to press.

I think the new feature in iOS where it guesses what I want to do (send a message to ABC, for example) based on previous patterns is promising. A whole screen of these actions would be great.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#66

Post by AlwaysRock »

clavalle wrote: post #56

Alexa is just an input/output device. It is limited, which is OK but that means there will not be a 'runaway hit'. There's just not enough of a surface area for something so comprehensive. It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'. What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at…

I don't believe your comparison really works. A mouse is useless on its own. An Alexa device can operate on its own.

I do agree with your latter sentiment. It does feel like a command line at times. More so like trying to figure out a text adventure game. Zork would be very difficult if you didn't know the basic functions/words. That's what Alexa feels like most of the time for me. I'd love a help menu.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#67

Post by rafiki6 »

I disagree...the killer app is a smart speaker (i.e. Amazon Music + voice control). That in an of itself is pretty useful, especially when you can get a reasonably good one for under a hundred bucks now.

Outside of that, Alexa isn't the platform the industry thinks it is but rather the equivalent of the touch screen on a smart phone. It's another form of input.

There needs to be much better and more seamless integration with 3rd party apps for it to really be useful.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#68

Post by 908087 »

ppierald wrote: post #63

We use it to "set a timer for 10 minutes" when cooking something and "what's the weather for tomorrow" to know whether to bring a coat or not.

Either of which could be done just as quickly by setting a timer on your oven/microwave or pulling out your phone.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#69

Post by clavalle »

pintxo wrote: post #57
clavalle wrote: post #56

Alexa is just an input/output device. It is limited, which is OK but that means there will not be a 'runaway hit'. There's just not enough of a surface area for something so comprehensive. It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'. What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at…

But that is not the original (or publicly perceived) USP. If I need to learn or memorize the interface it's not what has been promised.

That's the thing about USPs...most are idealized possibilities not yet realized.

I mean, look at VR and AR and, hell, even AI.

But AI is not useless even though it hasn't reached it generalized intelligence promise. It is adding tremendous value even though it has landed in the limited middle.

I don't mind learning Alexa's syntax and what it expects of me. I get value from what it can do well. As long as that's true, I think it can miss its more grandiose promises and still be a huge success.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#70

Post by clavalle »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #66
clavalle wrote: post #56

Alexa is just an input/output device. It is limited, which is OK but that means there will not be a 'runaway hit'. There's just not enough of a surface area for something so comprehensive. It's like saying 'There are 80k mouse enabled apps and no runaway hit'. What it can do is have an app for nearly anything, though, that makes sense for the form factor. It's on its way. The next step of its evolution is to look at…

I don't believe your comparison really works. A mouse is useless on its own. An Alexa device can operate on its own. I do agree with your latter sentiment. It does feel like a command line at times. More so like trying to figure out a text adventure game. Zork would be very difficult if you didn't know the basic functions/words. That's what Alexa feels like most of the time for me. I'd love a help menu.

>An Alexa device can operate on its own.

Can it?

I don't know how much I'd use Alexa if it weren't for Spotify. There are some native apps but its real value is in the 3rd party apps it connects to.

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