This is looking at Alexa, most likely in smart speaker or some variant form, as the endgame which I don't think it is. My guess is that it and its competition

This is looking at Alexa, most likely in smart speaker or some variant form, as the endgame which I don't think it is. My guess is that it and its competition is more or less a MVP to use audio for input and output and to understand how users interact with this "new" form of input. In a similar way to how Google Search and the various add ins they implemented for it along the way informs Google Assistant, so too I think these are stepping stones for something else. So I don't think the expectation is to have a runaway hit app, but rather to have a product that users will actively engage with. And considering they're making huge pushes into smart home product integration with Alexa, I really don't see how any of it could be viewed as cautionary... from Amazon's viewpoint anyway.