Amazon Could Charge Up to $10/Month for Alexa

[dontwalkhand]

I am so glad I went all-in on HomePods. We have an echo show on the wall, but that’s mostly used as a frame.

 

[Baritone_Guy]

LOL….No!!

 

[dannyyankou]

If Apple intelligence is any good, this will be a bad misstep by Amazon.

 

[Kottu]

"Good Morning Alexa!"
"If you want me to wish you back, pay me $5 extra"

 

[Fortran95]

I only use my Echoes for simple things like playing music, getting delivery announcements, and turning on my TVs. So this might be the impetus for me to move to Homepods. I already have Apple TVs on my two TVs, so they could control them.

 

[McWetty]

I dumped 10-15 Alexa devices 2 years ago with the exception of an Echo Show 15 in the kitchen (the built in Fire TV solved a problem). This would be a perfect time for Apple to swoop in with a HomePod / AppleTV / Screen combo that I can mount where the Show 15 is and be fully done with Alexa.

 

[bousozoku]

Probably will have to sign up for “Alexa premium” to even deactivate the camera and microphone on the device (which probably doesn’t even work)

Don't you remember? Alexa is always listening.

 

[unobtainium]

😂

So for a ton of AI companies there is no ROI without turning to a subscription model (or being acquired, which is what most start ups in this space are banking on).

This bubble is going to burst, and burst big.

The only alternative really is advertising. But then how useful will the results be? At least with Google ads you can quickly scroll by them…

 

[phenste]

so glad Amazon is finally killing Alexa with such a boneheaded move <3

 

[alexandr]

It's funny how Amazon's starting to charge for the things they used to offer for free. You'd think they weren't doing well or something... 😀

 

[alchemistmuffin]

There will be a free tier and a second, premium tier that is priced at $5 at a minimum, with Amazon considering price points ranging from $5 to $10. Amazon does not plan to include the premium Alexa tier with its $139 per year Prime subscription

WHAT THE $&@? 😡

That would KILL Alexa and Amazon Echo devices. Prime is already expensive and Prime Video is ruined with ads. If Amazon wants to compete with other AI and make Alexa more useful, then the premium one should be INCLUDED with Amazon Prime. No Prime members would fork another $10 a month to experience Premium Alexa.

 

[Ken Linger]

If they're going to charge for this, they better also offer a way to disable the ads for other Amazon services (item purchase "recommendations" or "Did you know I can speak to your dog?")

 

[BeeeRick]

So basically Amazon is now pimping Alexa. In order to use her we have to pay. Yeah, I don't think so.

 

[roar08]

WHAT THE $&@? 😡

That would KILL Alexa and Amazon Echo devices. Prime is already expensive and Prime Video is ruined with ads. If Amazon wants to compete with other AI and make Alexa more useful, then the premium one should be INCLUDED with Amazon Prime. No Prime members would fork another $10 a month to experience Premium Alexa.

Prime really does seem like it's pushing customers so far already...

 

[MilaM]

Never been a big fan of voice interfaces to interact with computers. Even dictation feels awkward. Maybe it's an age thing.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I wouldn't use Alexa if you paid me. You want to CHARGE?

Get outta here, Jeff...

 

[HMI]

Hate that B****!
😆

 

[Macaholic868]

Good luck with that!!!! 😉

 

[frozencarbonite]

As long as she still turns on my lights and stuff. I’m not paying $10 for Alexa to do that.

 

[minik]

Amazon is dead to me for quite sometime now.

 

[uacd]

I think my JBL Charge will serve me another 10 years just to turn it once in a while to play some music… for 120$ I can buy a bunch of these each year to chain them up into a system with my ancient iPhone and (don’t laugh please) Siri

 

[raythompsontn]

I ain’t paying monthly, yearly or weekly. I paid for the devices. That was enough. Will Amazon buy them back as they would now become bricks?

 

[tonyisit]

Alexa will go in the bin before I pay for it

I am slowy reducing them around the house, might be time to tryout a homepod mini

 

[MacTiki]

😂

So for a ton of AI companies there is no ROI without turning to a subscription model (or being acquired, which is what most start ups in this space are banking on).

This bubble is going to burst, and burst big.

The customer facing gimmicks will possibly flounder but AI driven services being implemented by corporations worldwide will thrive likely at the expense of a large portion of the current workforce.

 

[Stella]

$10 per month, screw that.