Use cases - controlling IoT devices, like lights, which you control when you are at home - playing music, podcasts - playing videos (via Chromecast/whatever)

Use cases - controlling IoT devices, like lights, which you control when you are at home - playing music, podcasts - playing videos (via Chromecast/whatever) - setting alarms - asking simple questions - checking weather I could go on. You're saying "if there is a market for these devices" as if there isn't already a demonstrated market. Amazon is selling a ton of them! Your phone is a personal device, while an Echo is used by a household. Their use cases are very different. Again, I get that this might not be a good device for you. But it's silly to say there are no uses beyond ordering stuff from Amazon, because people use them for a lot of stuff every single day.