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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

#221

Post by badlucklottery »

consp wrote: post #213
achow wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-a…

Nice numbers but don't those Alexa enabled device bring in revenue offsetting the cost and limiting the loss? Or doesn't anyone have an Amazon premium account or buy anything with Alexa on Amazon?

You'd really want to show that people bought more stuff due to Alexa than they would have otherwise. Tapping out an order on a smart phone is already pretty damn convenient so that's actually a high bar to clear.

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

#222

Post by tppiotrowski »

Privacy considerations aside, I switched from Alexa to Google Home Assistant because Google is a search/ML company and best poised to understand a question and provide relevant context (like Google search result snippets).

Search is not Amazon's or Apple's main business so they will have a hard time competing. (last I checked, Siri just does a Google search and provides links when it doesn't understand a question)

However, both Amazon and Google seem to sell their devices at cost with the hope of finding a revenue model while Apple charges a premium for their Home Pod. That makes the Apple approach most sustainable at this point.

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

#223

Post by menshiki »

tppiotrowski wrote: post #222

Privacy considerations aside, I switched from Alexa to Google Home Assistant because Google is a search/ML company and best poised to understand a question and provide relevant context (like Google search result snippets). Search is not Amazon's or Apple's main business so they will have a hard time competing. (last I checked, Siri just does a Google search and provides links when it doesn't understand a question) Ho…

I think HomePods are very different devices compared to what both Amazon and Google make. Even the HomePod mini sounds way better than anything competitors make. Many are willing to pay premium for the superior sound quality. Apple simply plays a different game. Not the one where it would have to compete with $10 echo devices.

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

#224

Post by wepple »

mabbo wrote: post #29

What bothers me isn't just the wasted money and time. It's the opportunity cost of all of those devs not working on other stuff. Alexa pulled talent from everywhere throughout Amazon. It took up a huge portion of the hiring funnel for new devs. All of those people could have been doing useful, money-making, cost-cutting things instead. I can think of at least a dozen really brilliant devs I worked with in Amazon Fulf…

> All of those people could have been doing useful, money-making, cost-cutting things instead.

This is how you kill a tech company: stop innovating and fall back to simple “maximize revenue, cut expenses” MBA theory

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

#225

Post by ranman »

system2 wrote: post #192
manv1 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

You can control your computer's software but not Alexa's. The internet doesn't record your home via microphones and submit to FBI: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/14/amazon-echo-recordings-jud...

From the article: "Police and prosecutors generally don’t expect much evidence from Echo recordings — if any — because Echo speakers are activated with a wake word — usually “Alexa,” the name of the voice assistant."

They complied with a legal order - they didn't submit it to the FBI.

Do you need some more tinfoil for your hat?

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

#226

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #216
mrtksn wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 also why Siri is good enough even though it is destroyed in a trivia contest against Google or Amazon. Voice UI is very bad since you don't have a way to know what it can do reliably. Treating it as general artificial intelligence doesn't work because t…

> Ok Google lock the device >> I'm sorry I can't do that > Ok Google clear notifications >> Opens Bluetooth (!) > Ok Google WhatsApp call xyz >> I can't call with duo (!) yet > Ok Google restart phone >> To restart your phone

even commands that used to work will suddenly stop working. "turn off office lights" no longer works because "office lamp" suddenly got precedence over "office room" and im too lazy to rename everything to accomodate Google

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

#227

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

achow wrote: post #187
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-a…

article said sell "at cost" not "at a loss"

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

#228

Post by aborsy »

enumjorge wrote: post #44

> Not many people want to trust an AI with spending their money or buying an item without seeing a picture or reading reviews. I wonder how much the decline in quality of Amazon's marketplace has affected other parts of the company's business including Alexa. I remember a time when, if I wanted to buy something online, I'd just buy off Amazon without shopping around. They almost always had the best price, their shipp…

I still buy from Amazon and almost never had issues. The delivery is max the following day, cheap, lots of variety, etc.

It’s an open to all market, and there are certified channels and customers reviews. Big box stores dream to replicate that.

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

#229

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

so just charge a subscription fee. i don't love the idea as a consumer but it does cost money to process my requests and keep training the devices. if it means they stay ad free and don't shut down the service, it seems reasonable. package it with Ring or something and/or Prime

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

#230

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

PostOnce wrote: post #40
kennu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, did you actually verify that "it's listening all the time to what goes on"? The Echo devices are supposed to only turn on full power and start listening when they detect the activation word ("Alexa" by default).

It has to listen to detect the activation word, doesn't it? -- therefore, it's listening all the time. The speaker also starts recording a few seconds before a command is issued, meaning there’s likely more private information in the recordings than customers are aware of. from https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/12/18089090/amazon-ech... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/business/amazon-echo-murd... Those two lin…

they really ought to delete the data after its processed
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