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Alexa had “no profit timeline,” cost Amazon $25 billion in 4 years
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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Technology
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I wouldn't describe it as wasted, even at a stretch. Alexa drives tonnes of money Amazon's way.
Not according to the article:
Think of it like Chrome. Doesn't directly generate money, but generates a lot of money
Except Chrome doesn't lose a ton of money, energy, etc.
Does the article say how the Alexa unit has absolutely no access control? Kids ordering dollhouses? Check. The news on TV triggering a response? Daily.
They can't expect us to link our visa cards to something that doesn't even know "this is little Billy" -- actually it can discern people -- "who should never be able to buy stuff" -- which it can't do.
The units are bad: no authorization and no auditing. Neighbor tried to order you 200 rakes as he rolled past your garage? You'll get your f'n rake back, Dennis, just fuck off and don't bug me every month.
That was true when they first came out, but they have added options for a pin and auto ordering is off by default.
I agree. Plus, right now Alexa is somewhat integrated with my life. I'm constantly interacting with Amazon's ecosystem. Take that away, and it becomes another online retailer (a hugely important one, but nonetheless...) and movie rental service. I could easily step away from Amazon in a way that is more difficult today.
Multiply that across their customers and is the value 6 billion per year? I don't know, that's a lot of money, but it's not a simple cost analysis.
Amazon claims to have Alexa on 100 million devices, so $6 billion/year would be $60/user/year.
It's not peanuts, but... Amazon Prime has 230 million subscribers worldwide, that is $140/user/year.
Sounds like one could be financing the other.