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Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

arstechnica.com

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Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#181

Post by rdl »

WXLCKNO wrote: post #57
thepasswordis wrote: post #28

I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights! That’s basically it. I wrote some apps for it a long time ago to do custom stuff like read me some Reddit pages, but the SDK changed or something and eventually they just died and it wasn’t obvious to me how to recreate it/not worth the effort. I really wish th…

Same way I used my google home. And then one time out of 10 or something it added crap like "by the way, if you ever wanna know about blabla, you can just ask me to do blabla". Now I don't own a google home mini anymore.

Amazon has been adding that too which makes me want to switch away (I'm already uncomfortable with the security risks of a third party controlled cloud microphone, but it's ok in my kitchen and bedroom where no sensitive audio happens.)

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#182

Post by ncallaway »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #164
ncallaway wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it were more sophisticated, I don't really see how it makes money. Even if it could absolutely nail that slightly more complicated command, and manage your home automation with natural language processing... that doesn't make money either! I agree completely with your assessment, that they behave more like a verbal CLI than a proper assistant, but solving that well doesn't seem like it offers a great opportun…

I could see it as a replacement for UberEats if it could get to a high level of convenience. E.g. "Alexa, order two medium cheese pizzas from the closest Domino's for delivery." "Okay, ordering two medium cheese pizzas from a Domino's 2.7 miles away for delivery as soon as possible, for $25. Is that correct?" "Yes." "Okay, ordering pizzas. It'll take around 40 minutes." But you'd need a very high level of AI intellig…

Yea, I think there is a revenue stream there. I just question how big it is. First of all, you need to take a pretty-small slice of the transaction since they also need to make and deliver the pizza. If I know my Alexa order is always $1 more than calling it in myself... I'll probably just call.

And then, there's a weird thing where this probably only works for the simplest (and then cheapest) transactions. If I'm placing a complex order because I've got 7 friends over, I'd rather use an online ordering system or just make a phone call.

So you're taking a small cut, and probably only getting in on the smaller orders. There'd need to be a lot of volume to make it work.

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#183

Post by imartin2k »

thepasswordis wrote: post #28

I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights! That’s basically it. I wrote some apps for it a long time ago to do custom stuff like read me some Reddit pages, but the SDK changed or something and eventually they just died and it wasn’t obvious to me how to recreate it/not worth the effort. I really wish th…

Same here. I love my Alexa speaker and use it several times daily — for the same use cases as you, plus asking Alexa to start music streaming. Been doing so for many years and it’s unlikely that would change anymore.

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#184

Post by returnInfinity »

dqpb wrote: post #66

No existing company will build a truly amazing voice assistant. Because, a truly amazing voice assistant must be unbridled. Therefore, the creator will have to be someone who doesn't have business to lose if it goes awry.

or just wait till AGI

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#185

Post by manv1 »

mradek wrote: post #13

Still boggles my mind that people willingly put these kinds of devices in their homes.

You could say that about any piece of technology, including the Internet. I mean fuck, the internet is in your home! It's like letting every basement dwelling pervert peek into a keyhole in your basement!

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#186

Post by throwaway2203 »

zachlatta wrote: post #97
monero-xmr wrote: post #17

My echo absolutely became less accurate month after month. Simple commands like “turn off the lights” would be 50/50. Very low-value technology and it certainly gives one pause about the feasibility of AI when something so basic with so much capital and years of effort is still fairly poor.

I’ve been wondering if I’ve been going crazy. It’s gotten way worse for me too. I have to ask 3-4 times to turn the lights off sometimes.

Also getting worse for me. I upgraded from my dot to a regular gen 5 echo, but no, it's still bad.

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#187

Post by achow »

somenameforme wrote: post #48

Perhaps a silly question, but can somebody describe how they might lose $10 billion on Alexa in one year? I don't understand the math. That's enough to pay 33,000 employees $330k a year, or some recombination of such. I don't think the real numbers come even remotely close to that. So it presumably has to be hardware costs, but Alexa is software, and they have vertical integration of all servers which presumably woul…

2020 - It took Amazon four years to populate the world with 100 million Alexa-powered devices. It took the company just one more year to more than double that number. The e-commerce titan announced Monday that there are now "hundreds of millions of Alexa-enabled devices" in customers' hands worldwide, a massive increase from the 100 million it announced last January. https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/amazon-sees-alexa-devic...

Annual sales ~100 million device, then losing $50/device would lead to a figure of $5 billion loss in a year. Loss of $50/device would include cost for running R&D, running factories, giving minimum guarantee to factories, and all other associated cost - marketing, customer acquisition, support etc..

So $10B loss in a year sounds in the realm of possibility.

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#188

Post by philsnow »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #98
adventured wrote: post #38

These companies are all quasi confused about what these devices are. Voice isn't the thing, it's a mode of interacting with the thing. The thing is: the digital home. Amazon is comically dropping the ball here. They have the tablets. They have the TVs. They have the reach. They have the home security division. Integrate, integrate, integrate. Alexa is just a mode of communicating with the digital home. It's a feature…

I sometimes wonder if companies have a plan or do things and it all just kinda falls into place. I used to make fun of Steam for the DRM part, but when combined with their Proton effort, OS and Deck all of a sudden all the crazy puzzle pieces fell into place, I started to wonder to what extent it pure chance vs conscious planning by Gabe. I agree with your point on integration. All the pieces seem to be there already…

Companies don’t have plans; individuals have plans and sometimes companies fake it because either enough individuals at a company are moving in the same direction or because there’s one or two charismatic leaders at the company driving it.

Sometimes companies don’t even have that and you get spastic, impulsive, uncoordinated, un-driven, near-net-zero movement, like a defibrillating heart.

Re: Amazon Alexa is on pace to lose $10B this year

#189

Post by newaccount2021 »

lkrubner wrote: post #36
chevman wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally in BigCo land you need a value prop that will allow your buyer to do 1 or 2 things (or a combo) - take out massive cost, or drive large incremental revenue. Most of the voice solutions I've seen kind of nibble around the edges of this, don't get traction, and slowly die a slow death somewhere deep in the middle of the RFP or evaluation process.

But this is something that enterprise customers keep asking for. I think the "pain point" is well known: companies can easily spend $10 million or $20 million customizing their Salesforce implementation, but then the salespeople hate it and refuse to use it. And then, if you are the VP Of Sales, a lot of your job becomes an endless cycle of harassing your salespeople to record their interactions with customers. This…

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