Yesterday’s “surprise” Amazon event was a stunning display of bravado from the so-called everything store. It gave us the clearest view yet of what Amazon’s home operating system will look like. The interface is your voice, and the hardware is everything you see around you. The peripherals are standard household items that are embedded with invisible microphones and integrated together through software and a vast array of interconnecting services.
Google and Apple have their own stories to tell, with smartphones and speakers playing central roles. But neither company has put the pieces together as cohesively as Amazon, whose story is told through a spate of Alexa products of good-enough quality that can be easily delivered to your doorstep at cutthroat pricing.
Take, for instance, yesterday’s introduction of the AmazonBasics Microwave. On its own, it seems silly. (And having to push a button to say “stop” is ridiculous.) But it heralds a warning to the home appliance industry: if you don’t integrate Alexa, we’ll do it ourselves and undercut you on the price. Nobody is that loyal to their microwave brand.
Consider how the microwave, or the inevitable AmazonBasics Oven, fits into the larger Amazon ecosystem of products and services, both real and imagined.
You’re returning home on your evening commute, tired and lacking the inspiration to prepare a family meal. “Alexa,” you say to your Audi E-tron, “deliver that butter chicken Meal Kit I ordered last month to my home.”
”God, I love Whole Foods,” you mutter aloud, knowing tonight’s menu is finalized.
Your AmazonBasics Garage Door opens as you come within range. As the door lifts, you find the meal sitting inside and waiting for you, thanks to the Amazon Key service. You park your car and plug it into the receptacle installed by Amazon Home Services. Alexa Guard then tells the security system to stand down as you enter the house.
And because you’ve come home at your usual time, Alexa Hunches asks, “Your usual playlist?” “Sure, that’d be fine,” you respond, as you kiss your kids. Your Echo Show is already displaying the Meal Kit recipe as you walk into the kitchen. “Alexa, let’s get cooking,” you pronounce, as you set a timer on the Echo Wall Clock.
As you eat, your AmazonBasics Refrigerator, fitted with scanning technologies perfected in Amazon Go’s cashier-less stores, notices your milk is low and orders a new jug via the Dash Replenishment service.
After dinner, with the kids in bed, you fold into the couch with a warm drink. “Alexa, start Ozark in the living room,” you say, as the lights dim around you, the shades fall, and the Echo Sub rumbles to life.
Thank you, Jeff Bezos, you think, wondering how people survived before Alexa.
Amazon was first with its Echo smart speaker in 2014. And while it might feel like smart speakers with voice assistants are everywhere, they haven’t truly broken into the mainstream yet. As of July, about 18 percent of American homes had a smart speaker installed, up from 16 percent in January, according to a report from Edison Research and NPR. By comparison, 95 percent of Americans own smartphones, according to Pew Research.
If you own a smart speaker, then you already understand how frictionless the experience is when issuing voice commands at home. It’s so much easier to have a room listening than a mobile device that might be in your pocket, a bag, or charging in another room. So while Apple and Google might dominate the smart assistant market on phones, it doesn’t mean they’ll dominate the home.
If you thought the battle for the home would be fought with speakers and phones, then you have severely underestimated Amazon’s ambitions.
Comments
I don’t want to support a company that treats its employees as badly as Amazon does. Even though I currently have a Prime account, I will not renew it when it expires, and will never buy an Alexa device. It’s hard to avoid Amazon totally, but I’ll do my best.
By I am not Spartacus on 09.21.18 8:57am
You know you can also cancel your prime account and get the remainder of your money back instantly? You don’t need to wait until expiry
By Buggy3D on 09.21.18 10:32am
Really? I didn’t know that and plan to do it this weekend.
By Ragnorak on 09.21.18 10:46am
Let’s be honest, you don’t want to support any competitor to Apple. Neither Amazon or google. You made the exact comment about Google as well previously.
By Novi_Homines on 09.21.18 2:09pm
I’m not so sure, I use Amazon to buy cr*p a lot… but they’re just a utility not a desirable product, more like a mid range Android phone than an iPhone or something, there’s no ‘aspiration’ in Amazon. Jeff obviously isn’t bothered, he’s banked his billions, but it’s tough to get away from Amazon being a cheap and tacky brand compared to other tech companies like Google or Apple, and not sure I’d want my house looking cheap and tacky.
Yeah yeah I’m a snob, shoot me down. If they made things that actually looked nice it’d be a start.
By wudboro on 09.21.18 9:02am
It’s ok to say crap on the internet.
By cgilmore on 09.21.18 1:01pm
Their high-end kindle is glass and metal and very nice looking. The original echo is machined metal and industrially nice looking. Their new products have a cloth covering that, while aping google, look nice. The new sub woofer looks way nicer than my onkyo sub, I’d like to know what you feel looks cheap and tacky? The fire tv boxes? I hide mine behind the TV, but do not feel it looks any worse than any other steaming player. I also don’t make a habit of using steaming boxes as a room focal point. As far as aspiration goes, they pioneered the smart speaker market and have made Alexa a ubiquitous and useful assistant without having the access to your personal data and search data that Google does. Also, Bezos is actively building a Space X competitor, so that is about as aspiration as it gets.
By veritas2884 on 09.21.18 4:01pm
ironic that like in Wall-e Amazon is working on a space-ship too
By moromi_ken on 09.21.18 9:07am
Amazon and Blue Origin are separate companies.. Bezos owns something like 15% of Amazon, but he is not Amazon and Amazon does not own Blue Origin.
Even if they were the same thing, how would that be ironic?
By EleMenTfiNi on 09.21.18 7:18pm
I’m really confused to why I would need to talk to my microwave. I have to get up to put food in it and take the food out.
By NinJustin on 09.21.18 9:08am
Yeah, the microwave is dumb. It’s dumber you have to push a button to talk to it. But what this article talks about … some of the ideas are stuff I have been dreaming of.
By MorbidGod on 09.21.18 10:58am
I like to put my popcorn in the microwave and then get ready for the movie – then I go back and start the microwave and have to wait for it to slow down popping while it cooks.
With this I can do all that, sit on the couch and when I am ready tell my echo to start the popcorn, and listen to it from the couch and tell it to stop when the popping slows down.
No more burnt popcorn and no more waiting by the microwave like the 1950’s.
By EleMenTfiNi on 09.21.18 7:14pm
This is just a proof of concept. Also, many people use the microwave oven as their only source of cooking. What this will enable someone to do is cook something they have no idea how to cook. Imagine, you didn’t know how to cook steak (but you cook it in a microwave) then you can just tell Alexa to cook what you just put in there for you in the exact way you want it. eg. (Alexa, cook my 1/4lb steak to medium rare). You do not need to worry about the temperature setting, cook time, nothing. This concept can be extended to other things that have Alexa built into it – eg. Alexa, wash my wool jacket – Alexa would then turn on the washing machine on gentle cycle with cold water. Later on, washing machines can have their own build in detergent dispenser and Alexa can also take care of this so that you never ruin your clothes. This is just the beginning.
By AdamMahase on 09.25.18 8:33am
So this is where my extra prime dollars are going =P
By EL CapiTRAN on 09.21.18 9:19am
I know you are joking, but they have provided a service to you (Prime) that you paid for. This money belongs to Amazon and they can use it as they see fit. FYI.
By AdamMahase on 09.25.18 8:35am
No thanks. I amazed how tech companies are convincing millions of consumers that it’s great to fill your home with their listening (and watching) devices, constantly mining data by monitoring your most intimate habits and daily routines, all in the name of consumerism and targeted advertising. It’s the greatest technology coup’ of the 21st century.
By Denster2u on 09.21.18 9:25am
We’re going to look back on this era in twenty years and label it the "Data Rush".
By GreatAmerican on 09.21.18 12:19pm
People will install these things because it is convenient to use the devices – just like installing electricity was convenient for everyone decades ago. Yes, data is collected, but the key take away here is convenience and people would do whatever it takes to make their lives easier. You don’t have to participate but knowing that there are people out there who will give up data easily should inspire you to create things, not be turned off and complain. Also, you do not know what data is collected exactly, until you know this, how can you conclude that it is bad? Perhaps data is collected on usage to improve processes – this is not an invasion of privacy since Amazon doesn’t know that Suzy is screwing Mark’s brother from Alabama. Yeah we should be weary of data collection and hold companies accountable, but until we know what is collected, we shouldn’t jump to conclusion or lose our shit over nothing.
By AdamMahase on 09.25.18 8:43am
It’s only Amazon’s home if you actively allow it to be. It’s not like Amazon is coming in the night and installing all this stuff. You are choosing to buy all the junk Amazon is throwing against the wall. YOU’RE home might belong to Amazon now, but most people’s definitely do not.
By hittrj01 on 09.21.18 9:26am
I mean yeah, obviously…?
The title is a spin on the old standby phrase "It’s BLANK’S BLANK, and we’re all just BLANKING in it."
But the article is about Amazon’s vision for the home, not actual-factual real life.
By Uncle Lincoln on 09.21.18 9:57am
no you’re a home
By Paul_M on 09.21.18 10:05am
Amazon is like a vampire. Won’t come in unless you invite … but once you do, it never leaves!
By MorbidGod on 09.21.18 11:46am
I think vampires are more well know for other things
By dwightk on 09.21.18 1:26pm
Nope, I’m definitely not jumping on this particular bandwagon. I use voice controls on occasion to interact with my phone but I’m not interested in an omnipresent voice assistant. On the surface, talking to Alexa and getting a voice response feels more convenient, but unless the experience is totally seamless, most tasks accomplished through Alexa can be done more quickly by just pulling a phone out of a pocket.
By Textured Soy Protein on 09.21.18 9:34am
This was addressed in the article. Until you have an Echo speaker it’s tough to realize how much easier it is to just speak instead of pulling out your phone. Playing music and weather are the two biggest uses in our household and its infinitely easier to just say ‘play discover weekly’ or ‘is it going to rain today’ than pulling out your phone.
By mobiledivide on 09.21.18 10:24am