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Ah, Echo: awesome "AI" for consuming Amazon services, including buying stuff from Amazon. Not so great for much else. The real trick is that they manage to ge

Ah, Echo: awesome "AI" for consuming Amazon services, including buying stuff from Amazon. Not so great for much else. The real trick is that they manage to get people to pay them anything for these little trojan horses.

maskedinvader 9y ago
well to be fair, they did beat everyone else to the market, when it comes to a decent speaker . you get what you pay for, and what you are paying for is with your loyalty to the amazon marketplace, the speakers on the echo / tap alone might warrant the prime day prices #sidenote
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  Hey, I can't knock them for succeeding. I just don't think most are in it for the speaker (nor is it marketed as such). So, I'm just pointing to the fact that, ultimately, Amazon seeks (and likely will get) more value out of the Echo than does the customer (or at least much more than the initial cost). Yet, they are able to get the customer to pay for the privilege. Cool trick if you can pull it off.
stevecalifornia 9y ago
IMO that's not the case at all. Our family uses it 90% to listen to music on Spotify and 10% to get morning news. We don't consume any Amazon services with it. Pretty soon the entire house will be automated with it: lights, thermostat, sprinklers, fireplace and fans. "Alexa, turn on all the lights." It's a new interface device. We can finally, easily, use our voice to accomplish tasks-- anywhere in our house. Before, with phones, it was clumsy and required pulling out the phone.
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  >We don't consume any Amazon services with it Give it time! Seriously, in addition to the ease with which you can also use your voice to buy on Amazon, Amazon will surely launch other services based on user behavior. In fact, they may even acquire popular services you currently use. And, of course, it's compiling data on you. It's a useful trojan horse, but a trojan horse nonetheless. Of course, if it wasn't useful it wouldn't succeed as a trojan horse. So, not saying it's evil. But, it's amazing that they are able to get people to pay for something from which they will ultimately collect many times the value.

maskedinvader 9y ago

well to be fair, they did beat everyone else to the market, when it comes to a decent speaker . you get what you pay for, and what you are paying for is with your loyalty to the amazon marketplace, the speakers on the echo / tap alone might warrant the prime day prices #sidenote

unclebucknasty 9y ago
Hey, I can't knock them for succeeding. I just don't think most are in it for the speaker (nor is it marketed as such). So, I'm just pointing to the fact that, ultimately, Amazon seeks (and likely will get) more value out of the Echo than does the customer (or at least much more than the initial cost). Yet, they are able to get the customer to pay for the privilege. Cool trick if you can pull it off.

stevecalifornia 9y ago

IMO that's not the case at all. Our family uses it 90% to listen to music on Spotify and 10% to get morning news. We don't consume any Amazon services with it. Pretty soon the entire house will be automated with it: lights, thermostat, sprinklers, fireplace and fans. "Alexa, turn on all the lights." It's a new interface device. We can finally, easily, use our voice to accomplish tasks-- anywhere in our house. Before, with phones, it was clumsy and required pulling out the phone.

unclebucknasty 9y ago
>We don't consume any Amazon services with it Give it time! Seriously, in addition to the ease with which you can also use your voice to buy on Amazon, Amazon will surely launch other services based on user behavior. In fact, they may even acquire popular services you currently use. And, of course, it's compiling data on you. It's a useful trojan horse, but a trojan horse nonetheless. Of course, if it wasn't useful it wouldn't succeed as a trojan horse. So, not saying it's evil. But, it's amazing that they are able to get people to pay for something from which they will ultimately collect many times the value.