A new report by The Information has roiled Amazon, punching a hole in the concept that users of their Alexa-powered smart speaker devices will use them to buy billions of dollars of goods through voice ordering. According to sources from inside Amazon, the company is disappointed that only about 2% of users of their devices use them for voice-enabled shopping – a result that throws shade at the company and industry analysts who predicted a tsunami of voice-powered purchases. The company’s spokesperson disputes the report.
Amazon
Control4 Announces Appointment of Charlie Kindel, ex-Amazon
BREAKING NEWS
Former Head of Amazon Smart Home Org. to be
SVP of Products & Services for Control4
Control4 Corp. announced today that it has appointed Charlie Kindel, an ex-Amazon executive in charge of their Alexa project, to fulfill the role of Control4 Senior Vice President of Products & Services. Kindel is replacing Eric Anderson, who announced his retirement recently after holding the same role since 2012.
See more on Kindel joining Control4…
[Read more…] about Control4 Announces Appointment of Charlie Kindel, ex-Amazon
Who Launched New Experience Centers Yesterday?
Yesterday, a major manufacturer who is very influential in the industry announced it was launching a series of “Experience Centers” across the country to help promote its brand. Perhaps you think I’m referring to Control4, who did announce such a program yesterday in partnership with 140 integrators around the country. But no, I’m referring to Amazon.com, who has partnered with one of the largest home builders in this country – Lennar – to build Amazon Experience Centers all around the U.S.
See more on this Amazon and Lennar program… [Read more…] about Who Launched New Experience Centers Yesterday?
Amazon Echo Market Share is Slipping
In a new analysis by eMarketer, we learn that Google has made significant inroads into the smart speaker market, causing Amazon’s Echo to begin to lose market share. So far, they remain the number one smart speaker, but projections show continued erosion, as consumers are embracing Google’s, as well as other’s, smart speaker options on the market.
See more on this early but meaningful research on Amazon’s declining share… [Read more…] about Amazon Echo Market Share is Slipping
Amazon’s Latest Secret Project Could Change Our World
Can Amazon Scoop the Industry a Second Time?
Amazon has a super secret project that just might change the world…again. I have long said that the brilliance of Amazon’s Alexa-based Echo and Dot devices comes from their realization that voice control belonged in the home. While Apple (Siri) and Google (OK Google) digital voice assistants in the past were viewed predominantly as a hands-free voice assist for when you’re driving – Amazon took a different route…right into the American living room. Brilliant, and now Google and Apple are playing “catch up.”
Now we learn that there’s a new project in Amazon’s secretive Lab126 that could once again change our world.
See what we’ve learned about Amazon’s secret project… [Read more…] about Amazon’s Latest Secret Project Could Change Our World
Polls: Facebook Faces a Major Trust Crisis
Stunning Reversal for Once-Loved FANG Brand
Facebook finds themselves square in the middle of a political and public relations fire storm, as news of the firms connection to Cambridge Analytica and the harvesting of the personal data on at least 50 million Facebook users, including perhaps you and I, have recently received a lot of news coverage. Now word comes via two new polls that the company’s brand has taken a serious hit in the eyes of their users and former fans.
See more on these latest polls about Facebook from Reuters/Ipsos… [Read more…] about Polls: Facebook Faces a Major Trust Crisis
Apple & Google Brands Drop Big in Latest Survey
A Drop So Surprising that Reuters Deems it Newsworthy
Reuters is reporting that the Apple and Google brands both saw precipitous drops in their brand reputation in the latest version of an annual survey conducted by the respected Harris Poll. At the same time, and perhaps offering a dire warning, Amazon came in at number one (again!) and Tesla saw a big jump in their brand reputation.
See more on the somewhat surprising results of this latest brand survey… [Read more…] about Apple & Google Brands Drop Big in Latest Survey
Amazon Invests in Another Smart Home Startup
Popular Executive Leaves the Company
Just one week after Amazon made a widely reported purchase of video doorbell maker Ring (for a reported eye-popping $1 billion), we learn that it has made another investment into the smart home space, taking a share of smart thermostat maker Ecobee. Although this was an investment made through their Amazon Alexa Fund and not an outright acquisition, it seems pretty clear that Amazon is getting very serious about the smart home business.
See more on this unexpected development from Amazon… [Read more…] about Amazon Invests in Another Smart Home Startup
Nearly 60% of Prime Users Say No to Amazon Key
Consumer’s Front Door an Impenetrable Barrier to Online Delivery People
Gifted visionaries like Jeff Bezos can image amazing products and convenient services. For example, like designing the world’s easiest online shopping site…and, dreaming of having consumers purchase goods online to be delivered IN their home. Today, in 37 cities across the United States, Amazon is launching its new delivery service where deliveries are placed past your temporarily unlocked front door and placed into your home…thanks to a special $250 door lock and cloud camera packaged solution that can be temporarily opened for the delivery person, called Amazon Key.
See what Amazon Prime subscribers think of Key in a survey by Recode… [Read more…] about Nearly 60% of Prime Users Say No to Amazon Key
Lawyer Warns: Alexa is ‘Betraying You’
Smart Devices Put 1st Amendment Rights at Risk, Lawyer Says
Stahl Criminal Defense Lawyers
As we perused the newswire services Monday, one release, from a New Jersey criminal defense law firm, caught our eye. Titled, “Are Your Smart Devices Betraying You?” the release was written more like a poison warning label than a news release. Your smart device, Westfield, NJ-based Stahl Criminal Defense Lawyers said, are “always on and potentially recording or transmitting.”
