Amazon thought Alexa would be the next iPhone. Turns out it's a 'glorified clock

[littleman]

Amazon thought Alexa would be the next iPhone. Turns out it's a 'glorified clock radio.'

It's a core paradox for voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant: The technology was tremendously successful. Many consumers find it genuinely useful. And no one can make any money with them.

Amazon can't get people to buy more stuff with Alexa, and it chose not to require Amazon Echo users to have an Amazon Prime account, the only other credible pathway to making money. Amazon Skills has fizzled out as developers realized there's no money to be made building for the platform. Amazon does use voice queries to help with ad targeting, but advertising is a small percentage of total revenue for Amazon.