Alexa, why are you losing so much money?
Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri
would have had their own struggles. This is what happens.
Amazon Alexa, the consumer voice assistant, will lose
$10 billion this year, according to a
new report from Business Insider. Long-term plans for the Alexa-powered Echo
device are also up in the air, with the division responsible for its
development expected to be one of the toughest in the long-awaited line. And
around 10,000 layoffs. All of this is
shocking for one of Amazon's most popular products. Amazon launched Alexa in 2014. According to Business Insider reports, it
is a "pet project" of Jeff Bezos, founder and first CEO, who took a
very hands-on approach. Initially, the goal was to automate user interactions
with Echo devices, rather than sell the products themselves for profit. If
consumers could be convinced to order everything from laundry detergent to game
consoles from Amazon with quick voice commands, the company would make a lot of
money. However, this did not happen as planned. The privacy policy didn't help,
and while Alexa is getting about a billion user interactions every week in 2018, these are simple requests to play music
or stream apps. 'Weather news. It's not the type of demand that can be easily
invested. That year, he lost nearly $5 billion.
Amazon tried other ways to make a profit, including partnering with companies
like Domino's Pizza and Uber to allow customers to order pizza or ride a boat
with voice commands, but that didn't take off. And while users can spend more
on other products from Amazon or sign up for Prime, the increased profits from
other areas aren't anywhere close to covering the cost of going to face of
voice assistant. . According to a Business Insider report, Worldwide Digital,
the division responsible for Echo devices, Alexa and Prime Video streaming,
reported an operating loss of more than $3 billion
in the first quarter of this year. Most of this "relates to Amazon Alexa
and other devices". Apparently, it is losing more than $10
billion this year. Even though it didn't get any benefits, it's hard to
call Alexa a complete failure. Echo devices are some of the best-selling
products on Amazon (although they are sold for what they cost to ship). Feel
close to the mark. Although Amazon keeps sales numbers a secret, it announced
in 2019 that it had sold a total of 100 million devices with Alexa on board. If the sales
figures remain stable, it would suggest that there are somewhere in the region
of 200 million devices with Alexa in
the world. Business Insider says that Alexa is the third most popular voice
assistant with 71.6 million users,
behind Apple's Siri (77.6 million
users) and Google Assistant (81.5 million
users). What is remarkable about this is that Siri and Google Assistant take
precedence in smartphones, while Alexa is common in dedicated smart speakers.
To communicate in today's society, you need a smartphone, but no one needs a
smart speaker.
It is clear that Google is in a similar situation with
Google Assistant - it is clear that it does not make any useful money for the
company. According to a recent report from Information, the searcher will have
to invest less money to make it available on non-Google (and non-smartphone)
hardware.
Ironically, Apple's much-maligned Siri may be the most
successful of the voice assistants — or at least the
one that causes its parent company the least amount of headaches. . The reason
may be that it is a shared part of the iPhone-Mac-Apple Watch ecosystem, not a
standalone product. But Apple also has Siri-powered smart home hardware. The
original $350 HomePod smart speaker was a commercial failure, although the $99
HomePod Mini seems to be doing well and was the best-selling smart speaker in
the first quarter of this year. Apparently there's a plan to reboot the HomePod
in full. Especially considering Apple's usual price and range, it's safe to
assume that these devices aren't being sold at a premium.
What's next for big names in smart
speakers remains to be seen. Amazon and Google are ready to lay off employees in
their operating departments, although the two companies have not announced
plans to stop development or withdraw plans. In fact, there doesn't seem to be
an unheralded way to turn this successful tech venture into a device-based
business
google,siri,ai,amazon,appel
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