Strategy in TECH...
This week we learned that Amazon has acquired Eero, a start-up company that offers a mesh WiFi system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the company does reveal what drew them to the still small, but rapidly growing Eero.
You will find more infographics at Statista
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.
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.
[Read more…] about Control4 Announces Appointment of Charlie Kindel, ex-Amazon
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
