16 ms·

Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

139 points by sillypuddy 10y ago

jcoder 10y ago
Considering the ambiguity of "Sold Out", maybe the original headline, "Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush", would be better?
- philip1209 10y ago
  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).
  - BlackjackCF 10y ago
    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.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      Alternatively: could selling out be a method of potential advertisement? "If they sold out, the product must be great!"
      - philip1209 10y ago
        Absolutely not. They can't gain sales from this because they're sold out. High opportunity cost - flatline zero revenue for the next week, which is (at least one of) the highest demand weeks of the year.
        tedunangst 10y ago
        That's ok. You can order one now for shipment in January, and buy something else to put under the tree!
        philip1209 10y ago
        1) I bet that conversions plummet on a page where the buyer can't immediately get the item. There's a reason they have optimized for fast delivery. 2) I bet that the average cart size at checkout is less than half of the cost of an Echo. The benefits don't outweigh the costs of a marketing stunt of claiming that they are sold out.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        They can't gain sales now from this, but why not in a few weeks when they have more supply?
        throwaway40483 10y ago
        The article touches on this. There is an equivalent product available from Google. People, in the US apparently, are more inclined to shift to a another vendor if they have the item in stock.
        dx034 10y ago
        You don't want to have a voucher under the tree, you want the product. Delivery in January will put off everyone who wants to buy as a present.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        But what if you don't want to buy it as a present? Or know someone with a birthday in January?
        dx034 10y ago
        I'd still argue that many people are more likely to buy gadgets in December (gift to yourself). Birthday is different though, but will not be the case for most decisions.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        I'd absolutely agree more people buy gadgets in December, but I don't see how that means it couldn't be artificial scarcity. Long term gains > Short term gains on a product like this.
        dx034 10y ago
        Because for Amazon the echo is not the actual product, it's just the platform. Don't think they make that much profit at the current price. But people who have one will more likely stay prime members and buy things at Amazon.
    - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
      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.
- MatthaeusHarris 10y ago
  I got what you meant, and that was my first thought too. The main reason I haven't bought an Echo (and am looking into self-hosted solutions instead) is the privacy concern.
  - throwaway40483 10y ago
    Well, according to Amazon nothing is sent to their server unless Alexa is awake (after saying the magic 'Alexa' keyword).
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      And we all know Amazon would never lie, and that the Echo could never be compromised...
  - dx034 10y ago
    Was really concerned about that. But in the end it's really no different from a smartphone/laptop. If someone compromises my device it could also always send. I have to trust the manufacturer of my phone not to transmit audio unless I tell them to, and the same is true for Amazon. I'm also pretty sure that people would've noticed if it always sends by default, guess some people will have monitored traffic from/to the device.
  - twothamendment 10y ago
    I'm using the Echo now, but I keep playing around with raspberry pi solutions. I'm waiting for Respeaker to deliver. I'd prefer to have it all in-house, but until I come up with something that works as well I'll keep the Echo plugged in.
cmelone 10y ago
B
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
I 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.
- notimetorelax 10y ago
  Well what Google does best is advertising to the right customer.
- function_seven 10y ago
  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.
  - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
    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.
GuiA 10y ago
Clearly, 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 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router. Last week, iOS decided to randomly delete all of my saved locations in the Maps app. I've never had stable, fast internet anywhere I've lived in the US in the past 8 years - every few days or so, shit just doesn't work for a bit. I've owned things like a Nest or Philips Hue in the past, and they randomly reset to factory mode or desync'd from my phone . Half the time I try to play my PS4, some stupid patch fails to download, or PSN is down, etc. The more things like the Amazon Echo I would have in my house, the more irritating my daily life would be - because I don't want to deal with the 5% of the time where I have to repeat my request 5 times for it to tell me the weather, or the connection to the Amazon server is lost and I can't play any music. This 5% of the time across dozens of devices results in being annoyed 100% of the time. All of this is why I mainly use a record player to listen to music at home (no DRM, no problem with servers being down or albums removed remotely), really like my GameCube for video games (put a disk in and play, no patches to download), still exclusively buy paper books, am fine with dumb light switches, and so on. If you think this entire thing is ridiculous, I fully agree - I make my living contributing to this industry! But either people are living through these same annoyances as I am and they're fine with it (in which case please teach me your secrets), or somehow I'm getting a worse experience with technology than 99.9% of the population (I guess statistically such a person must exist, and it is me).
- WalterSear 10y ago
  I work on voice-enabled smart device control systems, and I agree with pretty everything you mention.
- new299 10y ago
  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.
nullnilvoid 10y ago
How many were sold? 20K? 200K? 2M?
- drdrey 10y ago
  The story mentioned 5M since 2014
silveira 10y ago
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.
mrbill 10y ago
Not 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.."
- newspaper-shill 10y ago
  What does your mom use it for? I'm strongly considering getting one for my own parents.
  - mrbill 10y ago
    Playing music, weather, shopping lists...
niftich 10y ago
Fascinating. Don't take my comment the wrong way -- I'm not begrudging anyone on their spending habits or how they use their disposable income, but I genuinely have several items or activities that I'd rather spend that $140 current sale price on. Or, to rephrase, the idea of voice controlling music in my house appeals to me, but not at this price point? For what it's worth, the sibling products are also awkwardly priced for me: the cheapest Tap (edit/correction: Dot) has a terrible speaker while the mid-range Tap isn't hands-free. I'd be truly curious how people actually use the Echo: how much of it is music playing, how much of it is checking the weather, or witty banter, or re-ordering a household item. Is it more of a utility device? Is it more of an entertainment device? Is it some clever hybrid thereof?
- daveFNbuck 10y ago
  If the price point is the only issue, I'm pretty sure the Echo Dot does the same thing for $40. My concern is that voice controlling the music might not be worth sending out recordings of everything said in my house.
  - eclipxe 10y ago
    It doesn't record everything said in your house. It only listens to the wake word, and then records. Source: I worked on some of the low level audio functionality.
    - Eridrus 10y ago
      These comments about the NSA listening to you through these get annoying enough to me, I hate to think how annoying they must be to you when you built the damn thing.
      - CaptSpify 10y ago
        Is there any reason an Echo couldn't be updated to add 24/7 listening? Just because someone built a part of it doesn't mean they know how it works now
hijohnnylin 10y ago
what are people actually using these for? i'm legitimately curious about the use cases for this. if you have an android phone or iphone or smartwatch, you already can "Hey Siri/Google" whatever you want, including playing music. is it for light switches? Hey Siri/Google already does this, no? also, how many people have 50$ wifi connected bulbs? and isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just physically flipping the switch? (they're usually located right where you need them) is it for shopping? this seems like still a rare use case. is it to check the weather? that's already on your phone/wrist/computer/tv/window. is it to look up facts? again, siri/cortana/heygoogle does this. it's possible that i'm not the target demographic, that i'm the only person who doesnt have literally everything in their home futuristically connected (locks, lights, windows, curtains, vacuums, etc) -- and that this is actually solving a huge problem for a lot of people. but that seems unlikely -- i live in a relatively tech-infested city (SF) and almost nobody i know has those things. maybe i'm too old (27) to "get it"? get off my lawn??
- bbgm 10y ago
  As a "read me the news, play NPR or BBC or Podcasts, tell me the weather, make a shopping list" kind of device, to play music in various places, to manage a lot of the automation in the house, to listen to audible books, to buy music. I have Echoes in the bedroom and kitchen/living room and a Tap that floats. NB: I work for AWS but am just an general Alexa fanboy (and I am definitely a lot older than 27).
- greghatch 10y ago
  I think you might be too YOUNG to get it. I think older people love the idea of interacting with a computer with voice - it's way easier for someone to get a quick answer with voice if they're otherwise unfamiliar with navigating a smart phone or laptop (plus the added Star Trek "Computer, locate Commander Riker" aspect - with that added feeling of nostalgia, maybe). EDIT: changed words for clarity
  - morganvachon 10y ago
    Exactly. The generation that grew up with Star Trek:TNG and Voyager are 35-45 years old now, and that's our vision of the future. I see more thirty- and forty-somethings with iPads and Kindles (i.e. PADDs) than any other demographic, and the idea of saying "Computer, add X to the grocery list" just seems like how the future should be. I do find it funny that the tech from a fictional post-scarcity society is being pioneered in the real world by a merchandise company (Amazon) and an advertising company (Google). Meanwhile, Microsoft is lagging behind despite Cortana (in my experience) having the best voice recognition of all the services, Siri included.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
I see this "artificial supply constraint" hype-mobile getting played up a lot by consumer electronics marketing. It's pretty easy to get the factories in Shenzhen to crank out a couple extra to meet demand (it USED to be a lot harder). I call BS.
- lostboys67 10y ago
  It takes time to produce another baitch and to ship it to the States via ship even chartering a cargo 747 takes a couple of days I would suspect.
- dx034 10y ago
  The manufacturing process is likely still several days as it involves more than one factory in the process. Plus shipping to the US (1-2 days) you'll end up at probably around a week in the best case. And that only if there's enough cargo capacity to add 100k units on that route (don't know how busy they are in these weeks). I'd guess it's realistically closer to 2 weeks from decision until it's in the warehouse. It seems to me that the Echo is what amazon pushes most at the moment. They want to be in every house. I don't think they make much by selling it, it's mostly to bind people to amazon (prime and buying through the device). It doesn't make sense to constraint supply in that case. Constraining supply is used for expensive items to suggest that they're sought after. Don't think Echo fits in that category.
  - Hydraulix989 10y ago
    Even with that lead time, you know ahead-of-time when you're about to run out of supply in 2016. There's just no excuse. That said, I just don't see too many people buying Echo. Another distracting device that tries to get you to buy more stuff on Amazon is just not something I think people want, and the speech recognition works flaky at best, even in a quiet room (my Amazon engineer buddy has one). It's just like Siri. I had to go brick-and-mortar to get a flash drive in under an hour the other weekend. At Silicon Valley's Best Buy in SF, the in-store Echo demo had a few passersby press the Demo button, and then as soon as it started talking, they looked confused and walked away. Not a good sign. It does make a lot of sense: When something actually isn't selling so well, running a marketing campaign saying "we've sold out" is a great psychological hack to temporarily drive up demand.
nepotism2016 10y ago
My amazon dot and Rpi3 enabled kodi are next (literally) to each other, yet communication needs to leave the house for them to talk to each other...sort it out amazon!
- m0ngr31 10y ago
  I wrote a skill for this that has a ton of features: https://github.com/m0ngr31/kodi-alexa https://github.com/m0ngr31/kodi-alexa
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  How do you like Kodi? I'm working on setting one up now, but find the docs confusing at best. I'm hoping once I get it set up it will work well, but I'm having trouble getting to that part.
fragsworth 10y ago
I was given one as a gift, but I can't bring myself to plug it in. The device sends sound to their servers to process what you are saying. They probably aren't sending all the sound, but if they aren't, I can't be bothered to keep up to date on if they change that policy. Is it unreasonable to assume that the NSA is logging (or will eventually be logging) everything sent over the Internet with this device around?
- sumbry 10y ago
  If you're seriously worried about the NSA logging things - I'd be more concerned with the device you carry on your person every day, with a microphone, two cameras, a GPS device, 24 hour battery, and probably 10x the processing power of the Alexa. It seriously is no worse than OK Google or Siri and you should seriously be more worried about your cell phone.
  - proaralyst 10y ago
    The device I carry day-to-day needs to be specifically compromised. With voice assistants using an internet service, only that internet service needs to be compromised. For bulk surveilance, I think it's far more likely for the Echo servers to be attacked than my smartphone.
    - petra 10y ago
      Amazon says that only after you say the hotword it transmits voice to servers.
      - m_t 10y ago
        Well then we can definitely trust them.
        petra 10y ago
        If they lie about this in general(and enable blanket surveillance), it would be relatively easy to detect , and hurt Amazon's brand.
baby 10y ago
This is surprising. How does it compare to siri and the android equivalent? For me Siri doesn't get me more than half the time, while google gets me most of the time.
seanwilson 10y ago
I found the idea that it could be always listening to you creepy at first...but if you think about it your mobile phone, landline phone, computer microphone and more could be hijacked to always listen to you as well so there isn't much difference.
- aluhut 10y ago
  There is a huge difference: You voluntarily give away this information with this device while on the others there is work involved from a 3rd party. Most of the time you won't be worth it. While on Echo, you are just a part of the Quality System and Eris knows what they'll do with all that information in the future. Algorithms and AI is there to sort it out. I find it creepy but what creeps me even more out is people who don't find it creepy.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  "I thought leaving my door key under my matt was a bad idea, but then I realized that if someone wanted into my house, they could just break my window!" I'm not saying your making the wrong decision, it's a trade-off that everyone needs to make individually. If your happy with your Echo, great! But just because someone has one attack-vector on you doesn't mean you should dismiss new attack vectors.
  - srssays 10y ago
    You should be more worried about using npm. How do you know that when you install 100 of different dependencies, there isn't one that is turning on your mic and listening to your conversations? The Echo is an unlikely device to be compromised and recording everything you say, because it's pretty locked down and definitely not a general purpose computer.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      (I don't use npm, but I do use other repos) The difference between an Echo and repo-code is that repo-code is open-source. I can verify it's running what it's running. AFAIK, there's no way to do that with the Echo. > it's pretty locked down source? AFAIK you can't verify what it's doing, so it doesn't matter how well it's locked down.
alkonaut 10y ago
I want a thing like this with one single difference: I don't want to talk to it.
- owlninja 10y ago
  That is the entire point of it...
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
  How else do you want to communicate with a speaker-mic-only device?
- dx034 10y ago
  In that case you can just buy a smartphone or laptop?
  - alkonaut 10y ago
    I was unclear: I want an "integration hub" that controls sonos/hue etc with a massive corporation polishing it, instead of the usual suspects of home automation crapware. I'm happy to use it from an app rather than with voice
capitalisthakr 10y ago
I had one for two weeks and sent it back. The requirement to summon an app before asking your question is clumsy and really takes the "magic" out of the experience. I'm waiting for the Google Home to be available. Critically lacking in both ecosystems, is the ability to handle multiple user profiles so that it can recognise who is asking the question and tailor the answer to that users schedule, travel etc.
- iKlsR 10y ago
  > The requirement to summon an app before asking your question is clumsy and really takes the "magic" out of the experience. I'm waiting for the Google Home to be available. TBH, GH is just a large speaker for your smartphone.
- ozten 10y ago
  How will saying "Okay, Google" not be summoning the app? I agree that a conversational interface will cut down on summoning the app.
alistproducer2 10y ago
Having a hot mic in my house that there is data to servers that I don't control really doesn't appeal to me. Although I know my Android phone is essentially the same thing, I'm actively looking to replace my version of Android with something different soon as I can.
- Crespyl 10y ago
  And at least with an Android phone it's typically possible to root/wipe and install a custom OS that's completely separated from Google/whoever. There's usually still a few binary blob drivers, and you have to have some trust that the hardware itself isn't malicious, but at least you can be confidant that it's not dependent on/subservient to some online service that's out of your control. I'm not terribly interested in any home automation/assistant system that requires an always on connection to some external server.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    Agreed. I don't like closed-source stuff, but I'd still absolutely use an Echo if it didn't require cloud connectivity. At least then I'd be able to prevent it from reaching outside. Unfortunately all of the FOSS voice-recognition stuff I've tried has been hacky at best.
petecooper 10y ago
FWIW, there's stock in the Amazon UK store, and Amazon are advertising via a front page banner. Echo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GAGVC9K/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GAGVC9K/ Echo Dot: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DFKBG5Y/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DFKBG5Y/ Delivery to UK addresses only, but if you befriend a UK HN-er who's willing to be a patsy, I'm sure that won't be too much of a hurdle.
nathanvanfleet 10y ago
I was hoping to see a review of them here. I almost bought an Echo, or a Tap, but then I read the audio wasn't great. I wanted something to play music well and it sounded as if it didn't. I would love to know whether or not their audio quality or Google Home's, were worth it. Otherwise I guess I'll buy a decent quality amp for my Airport Express or something, which seems to cost about as much.
- kevincox 10y ago
  I know Google put significant effort and takes serious pride in the audio quality of the Home, so while I haven't heard it myself it is probably worth a try.
  - whatok 10y ago
    I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Passable enough that I don't immediately Chromecast to another set of $$$ speakers.
homerguy69 10y ago
I think this years re:invent was a big factor to the supply as well. Everyone who attended was given one.
- dx034 10y ago
  I'm not sure. Guess only a few thousand people attended? As it's on the front page of Amazon for a while, they probably sold a few million of those now. I know quite a few people here (UK) who got one, it seems very popular at the lower price.
ageofwant 10y ago
Its worth noting that you can build a Echo yourself, for example: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Raspberry-Pi-Powered-Amazon-Echo/?ALLSTEPS http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Raspberry-Pi-Powered... With blacjack, and hookers...
johnsmith21006 10y ago
Have had an echo since launch and the Google Home for a month. The Echo basically uses commands. There is some flexibility but not inference like the Google Home. So with the echo you sometimes have to do a quick Google search to get the name of the song so you can tell the Echo. The Google Home does not require the extra step. With the Google Home I am starting to use a condensed English. So I will say "play sting Gwen bottle" The Google home will launch Sting and Gwen Stefani playing message in the bottle. But the Google Home will also turn on the TV, set the correct input and then start playing. The Echo is older but for my family use cases the Google Home is far more useful. This was before the new capibilities just added to the Google Home
- greglikescode 10y ago
  I've been eyeing these and had a question about a use case like this. Is it easy to utilize multiple media sources for this, like Plex and/or Spotify? Can you tell Alexa or Google Home which to use?
  - relaytheurgency 10y ago
    If google home uses the same tech as google now, I've told my phone to specifically play songs on spotify before as opposed to play music.
sjg007 10y ago
Had huge problems with my MacBook and with a zoom wifi cable modem and a dlink ac router. Connection to xfinity wifi was better. Then we moved and I got fiber with their commercial wifi router and things have been stable. Less APS around. At work we have Cisco access points which were stable when not misconfigured.
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johnwheeler 10y ago
People here are really missing the point with these things asking, "why should I care?" It should be clear to the HN crowd. One day, ambient voice technology is going to be everywhere. In your car. In the supermarket. Everywhere. The Amazon Echo is an early example of it. That it's connected to the largest goods distribution network has the potential to enhance modern living in an obvious way. It's so typical with new technology to see a bunch of naysayers and ho-hum attitudes until one day it hits mainstream and everyone is like, "oh yeah, I knew it all along"
- swozey 10y ago
  I've had this stuff in my cars, phones and now laptop (siri and cortana) for years and I've never found it to be a smooth execution to the point that I just don't use it. My BMW has a horrible manual system for entering addresses into its navi (spin wheel to letters), you'd think the voice system would be an easy resolution but it's even clunkier. I bought 2 dots last night, one to plug into my Sonos and one to use as an alarm clock. Let's see if I use them at all beyond that. edit: I canceled the dots and bought a Google Home and a dot to compare. Mostly because I use Google Music.
  - johnwheeler 10y ago
    It's early. Think beyond the current capabilities and project 10 or 20 years from now.
twothamendment 10y ago
Why do I love the Echo? It was stupid easy to put up a Skill to control my house, my way. Skills are open to do whatever you can code up. They need to talk to a secure endpoint, but with Lets Encrypt handing out SSL like candy, what is your excuse? Since my Skill is custom to my house, it isn't open to the public - I'll just be "testing" it for a long time.
habosa 10y ago
I have noticed that Amazon (and Amazon merchants) seem to be unprepared for this holiday season. Amazon was always my go-to place for "oh shit I need a Christmas present at it's December 20th". I went online to buy a few things this weekend and almost every item I looked up was marked "Back in stock on Dec XX" where XX was somewhere in the range of 24th to 30th. So I'm not surprised that this extends to Amazon's own products. It's a shame, as one of the main reasons to shop on Amazon is to know you can get almost anything with no notice.
- dx034 10y ago
  Could be a sign for the current economic environment. Ecommerce took really off in the last decade or so. The recovery after the crisis in '08 took long and while consumption was ok, it was never extremely good. Current numbers, especially in the US, look very promising. Growth isn't where it has been in the past, but employment is very strong and so is spending. Wage growth will have a large effect on spending for gifts, especially for earners with low wages. Maybe that's why Amazon was so surprised this year. They anticipated their growth number to what they sold last year and didn't account for the extra boost. Of course that's just speculation, but it would fit well. And would explain why I don't see this effect on Amazon UK at all.
yeukhon 10y ago
I was excited about Echo when my co-worker introduced it to me a month ago, but then realize I'd have to write a Lambda function, set up this and that, and the fact I'd have to write out the exact command, I shrugged a bit and lost my interest. Now that AWS has Rekognition, Polly, and Greengrass, I am more excited to find out how to integrate them (although sure Google's Vision API and Voice API already exist for a while now).
TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
The greatest part about the echo is that I can create my own skills for my own echo without having to publish my skills to skill store. This allows me to build the Alexa that I want to build which is really awesome IMO.
wdr1 10y ago
FWIW, they still have them in stock at the Amazon Bookstore (in Seattle). My sister in North Carolina was trying desperately to find one for a gift, so I popped in there. They're also on sale, a discount of about ~$40. They seemed to be aware of the shortage and saw this a good way to get people to check out the store.

139 points by sillypuddy 10y ago

Considering the ambiguity of "Sold Out", maybe the original headline, "Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush", would be better?

philip1209 10y ago
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).
- BlackjackCF 10y ago
  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.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    Alternatively: could selling out be a method of potential advertisement? "If they sold out, the product must be great!"
    - philip1209 10y ago
      Absolutely not. They can't gain sales from this because they're sold out. High opportunity cost - flatline zero revenue for the next week, which is (at least one of) the highest demand weeks of the year.
      - tedunangst 10y ago
        That's ok. You can order one now for shipment in January, and buy something else to put under the tree!
        philip1209 10y ago
        1) I bet that conversions plummet on a page where the buyer can't immediately get the item. There's a reason they have optimized for fast delivery. 2) I bet that the average cart size at checkout is less than half of the cost of an Echo. The benefits don't outweigh the costs of a marketing stunt of claiming that they are sold out.
      - CaptSpify 10y ago
        They can't gain sales now from this, but why not in a few weeks when they have more supply?
        throwaway40483 10y ago
        The article touches on this. There is an equivalent product available from Google. People, in the US apparently, are more inclined to shift to a another vendor if they have the item in stock.
        dx034 10y ago
        You don't want to have a voucher under the tree, you want the product. Delivery in January will put off everyone who wants to buy as a present.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        But what if you don't want to buy it as a present? Or know someone with a birthday in January?
        dx034 10y ago
        I'd still argue that many people are more likely to buy gadgets in December (gift to yourself). Birthday is different though, but will not be the case for most decisions.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        I'd absolutely agree more people buy gadgets in December, but I don't see how that means it couldn't be artificial scarcity. Long term gains > Short term gains on a product like this.
        dx034 10y ago
        Because for Amazon the echo is not the actual product, it's just the platform. Don't think they make that much profit at the current price. But people who have one will more likely stay prime members and buy things at Amazon.
  - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
    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.
MatthaeusHarris 10y ago
I got what you meant, and that was my first thought too. The main reason I haven't bought an Echo (and am looking into self-hosted solutions instead) is the privacy concern.
- throwaway40483 10y ago
  Well, according to Amazon nothing is sent to their server unless Alexa is awake (after saying the magic 'Alexa' keyword).
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    And we all know Amazon would never lie, and that the Echo could never be compromised...
- dx034 10y ago
  Was really concerned about that. But in the end it's really no different from a smartphone/laptop. If someone compromises my device it could also always send. I have to trust the manufacturer of my phone not to transmit audio unless I tell them to, and the same is true for Amazon. I'm also pretty sure that people would've noticed if it always sends by default, guess some people will have monitored traffic from/to the device.
- twothamendment 10y ago
  I'm using the Echo now, but I keep playing around with raspberry pi solutions. I'm waiting for Respeaker to deliver. I'd prefer to have it all in-house, but until I come up with something that works as well I'll keep the Echo plugged in.

cmelone 10y ago

cocktailpeanuts 10y ago

I 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.

notimetorelax 10y ago
Well what Google does best is advertising to the right customer.
function_seven 10y ago
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.
- UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
  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.

GuiA 10y ago

Clearly, 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 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router. Last week, iOS decided to randomly delete all of my saved locations in the Maps app. I've never had stable, fast internet anywhere I've lived in the US in the past 8 years - every few days or so, shit just doesn't work for a bit. I've owned things like a Nest or Philips Hue in the past, and they randomly reset to factory mode or desync'd from my phone . Half the time I try to play my PS4, some stupid patch fails to download, or PSN is down, etc. The more things like the Amazon Echo I would have in my house, the more irritating my daily life would be - because I don't want to deal with the 5% of the time where I have to repeat my request 5 times for it to tell me the weather, or the connection to the Amazon server is lost and I can't play any music. This 5% of the time across dozens of devices results in being annoyed 100% of the time. All of this is why I mainly use a record player to listen to music at home (no DRM, no problem with servers being down or albums removed remotely), really like my GameCube for video games (put a disk in and play, no patches to download), still exclusively buy paper books, am fine with dumb light switches, and so on. If you think this entire thing is ridiculous, I fully agree - I make my living contributing to this industry! But either people are living through these same annoyances as I am and they're fine with it (in which case please teach me your secrets), or somehow I'm getting a worse experience with technology than 99.9% of the population (I guess statistically such a person must exist, and it is me).

WalterSear 10y ago
I work on voice-enabled smart device control systems, and I agree with pretty everything you mention.
new299 10y ago
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.

nullnilvoid 10y ago

How many were sold? 20K? 200K? 2M?

drdrey 10y ago
The story mentioned 5M since 2014

silveira 10y ago

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.

mrbill 10y ago

Not 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.."

newspaper-shill 10y ago
What does your mom use it for? I'm strongly considering getting one for my own parents.
- mrbill 10y ago
  Playing music, weather, shopping lists...

niftich 10y ago

Fascinating. Don't take my comment the wrong way -- I'm not begrudging anyone on their spending habits or how they use their disposable income, but I genuinely have several items or activities that I'd rather spend that $140 current sale price on. Or, to rephrase, the idea of voice controlling music in my house appeals to me, but not at this price point? For what it's worth, the sibling products are also awkwardly priced for me: the cheapest Tap (edit/correction: Dot) has a terrible speaker while the mid-range Tap isn't hands-free. I'd be truly curious how people actually use the Echo: how much of it is music playing, how much of it is checking the weather, or witty banter, or re-ordering a household item. Is it more of a utility device? Is it more of an entertainment device? Is it some clever hybrid thereof?

daveFNbuck 10y ago
If the price point is the only issue, I'm pretty sure the Echo Dot does the same thing for $40. My concern is that voice controlling the music might not be worth sending out recordings of everything said in my house.
- eclipxe 10y ago
  It doesn't record everything said in your house. It only listens to the wake word, and then records. Source: I worked on some of the low level audio functionality.
  - Eridrus 10y ago
    These comments about the NSA listening to you through these get annoying enough to me, I hate to think how annoying they must be to you when you built the damn thing.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      Is there any reason an Echo couldn't be updated to add 24/7 listening? Just because someone built a part of it doesn't mean they know how it works now

hijohnnylin 10y ago

what are people actually using these for? i'm legitimately curious about the use cases for this. if you have an android phone or iphone or smartwatch, you already can "Hey Siri/Google" whatever you want, including playing music. is it for light switches? Hey Siri/Google already does this, no? also, how many people have 50$ wifi connected bulbs? and isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just physically flipping the switch? (they're usually located right where you need them) is it for shopping? this seems like still a rare use case. is it to check the weather? that's already on your phone/wrist/computer/tv/window. is it to look up facts? again, siri/cortana/heygoogle does this. it's possible that i'm not the target demographic, that i'm the only person who doesnt have literally everything in their home futuristically connected (locks, lights, windows, curtains, vacuums, etc) -- and that this is actually solving a huge problem for a lot of people. but that seems unlikely -- i live in a relatively tech-infested city (SF) and almost nobody i know has those things. maybe i'm too old (27) to "get it"? get off my lawn??

bbgm 10y ago
As a "read me the news, play NPR or BBC or Podcasts, tell me the weather, make a shopping list" kind of device, to play music in various places, to manage a lot of the automation in the house, to listen to audible books, to buy music. I have Echoes in the bedroom and kitchen/living room and a Tap that floats. NB: I work for AWS but am just an general Alexa fanboy (and I am definitely a lot older than 27).
greghatch 10y ago
I think you might be too YOUNG to get it. I think older people love the idea of interacting with a computer with voice - it's way easier for someone to get a quick answer with voice if they're otherwise unfamiliar with navigating a smart phone or laptop (plus the added Star Trek "Computer, locate Commander Riker" aspect - with that added feeling of nostalgia, maybe). EDIT: changed words for clarity
- morganvachon 10y ago
  Exactly. The generation that grew up with Star Trek:TNG and Voyager are 35-45 years old now, and that's our vision of the future. I see more thirty- and forty-somethings with iPads and Kindles (i.e. PADDs) than any other demographic, and the idea of saying "Computer, add X to the grocery list" just seems like how the future should be. I do find it funny that the tech from a fictional post-scarcity society is being pioneered in the real world by a merchandise company (Amazon) and an advertising company (Google). Meanwhile, Microsoft is lagging behind despite Cortana (in my experience) having the best voice recognition of all the services, Siri included.

Hydraulix989 10y ago

I see this "artificial supply constraint" hype-mobile getting played up a lot by consumer electronics marketing. It's pretty easy to get the factories in Shenzhen to crank out a couple extra to meet demand (it USED to be a lot harder). I call BS.

lostboys67 10y ago
It takes time to produce another baitch and to ship it to the States via ship even chartering a cargo 747 takes a couple of days I would suspect.
dx034 10y ago
The manufacturing process is likely still several days as it involves more than one factory in the process. Plus shipping to the US (1-2 days) you'll end up at probably around a week in the best case. And that only if there's enough cargo capacity to add 100k units on that route (don't know how busy they are in these weeks). I'd guess it's realistically closer to 2 weeks from decision until it's in the warehouse. It seems to me that the Echo is what amazon pushes most at the moment. They want to be in every house. I don't think they make much by selling it, it's mostly to bind people to amazon (prime and buying through the device). It doesn't make sense to constraint supply in that case. Constraining supply is used for expensive items to suggest that they're sought after. Don't think Echo fits in that category.
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  Even with that lead time, you know ahead-of-time when you're about to run out of supply in 2016. There's just no excuse. That said, I just don't see too many people buying Echo. Another distracting device that tries to get you to buy more stuff on Amazon is just not something I think people want, and the speech recognition works flaky at best, even in a quiet room (my Amazon engineer buddy has one). It's just like Siri. I had to go brick-and-mortar to get a flash drive in under an hour the other weekend. At Silicon Valley's Best Buy in SF, the in-store Echo demo had a few passersby press the Demo button, and then as soon as it started talking, they looked confused and walked away. Not a good sign. It does make a lot of sense: When something actually isn't selling so well, running a marketing campaign saying "we've sold out" is a great psychological hack to temporarily drive up demand.

nepotism2016 10y ago

My amazon dot and Rpi3 enabled kodi are next (literally) to each other, yet communication needs to leave the house for them to talk to each other...sort it out amazon!

m0ngr31 10y ago
I wrote a skill for this that has a ton of features: https://github.com/m0ngr31/kodi-alexa https://github.com/m0ngr31/kodi-alexa
CaptSpify 10y ago
How do you like Kodi? I'm working on setting one up now, but find the docs confusing at best. I'm hoping once I get it set up it will work well, but I'm having trouble getting to that part.

fragsworth 10y ago

I was given one as a gift, but I can't bring myself to plug it in. The device sends sound to their servers to process what you are saying. They probably aren't sending all the sound, but if they aren't, I can't be bothered to keep up to date on if they change that policy. Is it unreasonable to assume that the NSA is logging (or will eventually be logging) everything sent over the Internet with this device around?

sumbry 10y ago
If you're seriously worried about the NSA logging things - I'd be more concerned with the device you carry on your person every day, with a microphone, two cameras, a GPS device, 24 hour battery, and probably 10x the processing power of the Alexa. It seriously is no worse than OK Google or Siri and you should seriously be more worried about your cell phone.
- proaralyst 10y ago
  The device I carry day-to-day needs to be specifically compromised. With voice assistants using an internet service, only that internet service needs to be compromised. For bulk surveilance, I think it's far more likely for the Echo servers to be attacked than my smartphone.
  - petra 10y ago
    Amazon says that only after you say the hotword it transmits voice to servers.
    - m_t 10y ago
      Well then we can definitely trust them.
      - petra 10y ago
        If they lie about this in general(and enable blanket surveillance), it would be relatively easy to detect , and hurt Amazon's brand.

baby 10y ago

This is surprising. How does it compare to siri and the android equivalent? For me Siri doesn't get me more than half the time, while google gets me most of the time.

seanwilson 10y ago

I found the idea that it could be always listening to you creepy at first...but if you think about it your mobile phone, landline phone, computer microphone and more could be hijacked to always listen to you as well so there isn't much difference.

aluhut 10y ago
There is a huge difference: You voluntarily give away this information with this device while on the others there is work involved from a 3rd party. Most of the time you won't be worth it. While on Echo, you are just a part of the Quality System and Eris knows what they'll do with all that information in the future. Algorithms and AI is there to sort it out. I find it creepy but what creeps me even more out is people who don't find it creepy.
CaptSpify 10y ago
"I thought leaving my door key under my matt was a bad idea, but then I realized that if someone wanted into my house, they could just break my window!" I'm not saying your making the wrong decision, it's a trade-off that everyone needs to make individually. If your happy with your Echo, great! But just because someone has one attack-vector on you doesn't mean you should dismiss new attack vectors.
- srssays 10y ago
  You should be more worried about using npm. How do you know that when you install 100 of different dependencies, there isn't one that is turning on your mic and listening to your conversations? The Echo is an unlikely device to be compromised and recording everything you say, because it's pretty locked down and definitely not a general purpose computer.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    (I don't use npm, but I do use other repos) The difference between an Echo and repo-code is that repo-code is open-source. I can verify it's running what it's running. AFAIK, there's no way to do that with the Echo. > it's pretty locked down source? AFAIK you can't verify what it's doing, so it doesn't matter how well it's locked down.

alkonaut 10y ago

I want a thing like this with one single difference: I don't want to talk to it.

owlninja 10y ago
That is the entire point of it...
tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
How else do you want to communicate with a speaker-mic-only device?
dx034 10y ago
In that case you can just buy a smartphone or laptop?
- alkonaut 10y ago
  I was unclear: I want an "integration hub" that controls sonos/hue etc with a massive corporation polishing it, instead of the usual suspects of home automation crapware. I'm happy to use it from an app rather than with voice

capitalisthakr 10y ago

I had one for two weeks and sent it back. The requirement to summon an app before asking your question is clumsy and really takes the "magic" out of the experience. I'm waiting for the Google Home to be available. Critically lacking in both ecosystems, is the ability to handle multiple user profiles so that it can recognise who is asking the question and tailor the answer to that users schedule, travel etc.

iKlsR 10y ago
> The requirement to summon an app before asking your question is clumsy and really takes the "magic" out of the experience. I'm waiting for the Google Home to be available. TBH, GH is just a large speaker for your smartphone.
ozten 10y ago
How will saying "Okay, Google" not be summoning the app? I agree that a conversational interface will cut down on summoning the app.

alistproducer2 10y ago

Having a hot mic in my house that there is data to servers that I don't control really doesn't appeal to me. Although I know my Android phone is essentially the same thing, I'm actively looking to replace my version of Android with something different soon as I can.

Crespyl 10y ago
And at least with an Android phone it's typically possible to root/wipe and install a custom OS that's completely separated from Google/whoever. There's usually still a few binary blob drivers, and you have to have some trust that the hardware itself isn't malicious, but at least you can be confidant that it's not dependent on/subservient to some online service that's out of your control. I'm not terribly interested in any home automation/assistant system that requires an always on connection to some external server.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  Agreed. I don't like closed-source stuff, but I'd still absolutely use an Echo if it didn't require cloud connectivity. At least then I'd be able to prevent it from reaching outside. Unfortunately all of the FOSS voice-recognition stuff I've tried has been hacky at best.

petecooper 10y ago

FWIW, there's stock in the Amazon UK store, and Amazon are advertising via a front page banner. Echo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GAGVC9K/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GAGVC9K/ Echo Dot: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DFKBG5Y/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DFKBG5Y/ Delivery to UK addresses only, but if you befriend a UK HN-er who's willing to be a patsy, I'm sure that won't be too much of a hurdle.

nathanvanfleet 10y ago

I was hoping to see a review of them here. I almost bought an Echo, or a Tap, but then I read the audio wasn't great. I wanted something to play music well and it sounded as if it didn't. I would love to know whether or not their audio quality or Google Home's, were worth it. Otherwise I guess I'll buy a decent quality amp for my Airport Express or something, which seems to cost about as much.

kevincox 10y ago
I know Google put significant effort and takes serious pride in the audio quality of the Home, so while I haven't heard it myself it is probably worth a try.
- whatok 10y ago
  I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Passable enough that I don't immediately Chromecast to another set of $$$ speakers.

homerguy69 10y ago

I think this years re:invent was a big factor to the supply as well. Everyone who attended was given one.

dx034 10y ago
I'm not sure. Guess only a few thousand people attended? As it's on the front page of Amazon for a while, they probably sold a few million of those now. I know quite a few people here (UK) who got one, it seems very popular at the lower price.

ageofwant 10y ago

Its worth noting that you can build a Echo yourself, for example: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Raspberry-Pi-Powered-Amazon-Echo/?ALLSTEPS http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Raspberry-Pi-Powered... With blacjack, and hookers...

johnsmith21006 10y ago

Have had an echo since launch and the Google Home for a month. The Echo basically uses commands. There is some flexibility but not inference like the Google Home. So with the echo you sometimes have to do a quick Google search to get the name of the song so you can tell the Echo. The Google Home does not require the extra step. With the Google Home I am starting to use a condensed English. So I will say "play sting Gwen bottle" The Google home will launch Sting and Gwen Stefani playing message in the bottle. But the Google Home will also turn on the TV, set the correct input and then start playing. The Echo is older but for my family use cases the Google Home is far more useful. This was before the new capibilities just added to the Google Home

greglikescode 10y ago
I've been eyeing these and had a question about a use case like this. Is it easy to utilize multiple media sources for this, like Plex and/or Spotify? Can you tell Alexa or Google Home which to use?
- relaytheurgency 10y ago
  If google home uses the same tech as google now, I've told my phone to specifically play songs on spotify before as opposed to play music.

sjg007 10y ago

Had huge problems with my MacBook and with a zoom wifi cable modem and a dlink ac router. Connection to xfinity wifi was better. Then we moved and I got fiber with their commercial wifi router and things have been stable. Less APS around. At work we have Cisco access points which were stable when not misconfigured.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

johnwheeler 10y ago

People here are really missing the point with these things asking, "why should I care?" It should be clear to the HN crowd. One day, ambient voice technology is going to be everywhere. In your car. In the supermarket. Everywhere. The Amazon Echo is an early example of it. That it's connected to the largest goods distribution network has the potential to enhance modern living in an obvious way. It's so typical with new technology to see a bunch of naysayers and ho-hum attitudes until one day it hits mainstream and everyone is like, "oh yeah, I knew it all along"

swozey 10y ago
I've had this stuff in my cars, phones and now laptop (siri and cortana) for years and I've never found it to be a smooth execution to the point that I just don't use it. My BMW has a horrible manual system for entering addresses into its navi (spin wheel to letters), you'd think the voice system would be an easy resolution but it's even clunkier. I bought 2 dots last night, one to plug into my Sonos and one to use as an alarm clock. Let's see if I use them at all beyond that. edit: I canceled the dots and bought a Google Home and a dot to compare. Mostly because I use Google Music.
- johnwheeler 10y ago
  It's early. Think beyond the current capabilities and project 10 or 20 years from now.

twothamendment 10y ago

Why do I love the Echo? It was stupid easy to put up a Skill to control my house, my way. Skills are open to do whatever you can code up. They need to talk to a secure endpoint, but with Lets Encrypt handing out SSL like candy, what is your excuse? Since my Skill is custom to my house, it isn't open to the public - I'll just be "testing" it for a long time.

habosa 10y ago

I have noticed that Amazon (and Amazon merchants) seem to be unprepared for this holiday season. Amazon was always my go-to place for "oh shit I need a Christmas present at it's December 20th". I went online to buy a few things this weekend and almost every item I looked up was marked "Back in stock on Dec XX" where XX was somewhere in the range of 24th to 30th. So I'm not surprised that this extends to Amazon's own products. It's a shame, as one of the main reasons to shop on Amazon is to know you can get almost anything with no notice.

dx034 10y ago
Could be a sign for the current economic environment. Ecommerce took really off in the last decade or so. The recovery after the crisis in '08 took long and while consumption was ok, it was never extremely good. Current numbers, especially in the US, look very promising. Growth isn't where it has been in the past, but employment is very strong and so is spending. Wage growth will have a large effect on spending for gifts, especially for earners with low wages. Maybe that's why Amazon was so surprised this year. They anticipated their growth number to what they sold last year and didn't account for the extra boost. Of course that's just speculation, but it would fit well. And would explain why I don't see this effect on Amazon UK at all.

yeukhon 10y ago

I was excited about Echo when my co-worker introduced it to me a month ago, but then realize I'd have to write a Lambda function, set up this and that, and the fact I'd have to write out the exact command, I shrugged a bit and lost my interest. Now that AWS has Rekognition, Polly, and Greengrass, I am more excited to find out how to integrate them (although sure Google's Vision API and Voice API already exist for a while now).

TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago

The greatest part about the echo is that I can create my own skills for my own echo without having to publish my skills to skill store. This allows me to build the Alexa that I want to build which is really awesome IMO.

wdr1 10y ago

FWIW, they still have them in stock at the Amazon Bookstore (in Seattle). My sister in North Carolina was trying desperately to find one for a gift, so I popped in there. They're also on sale, a discount of about ~$40. They seemed to be aware of the shortage and saw this a good way to get people to check out the store.