This is the difference between Apple's laser focus on product development and Amazon's create-everything, see-what-people-will-buy strategy. As a customer, I would feel abused if I bought a product that may or may not be around and usable in a few years.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Amazon Unveils Echo, a Speaker With a Siri-Like Voice Assistant
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah, ok.
HAHA I actually want one now if that is the case. My dog would appreciate it if I stopped telling her jokes when I'm drunk and expecting a reaction.
Yeah, I was annoyed by that. It's more than just the size of the woofer, but the resonant chamber isn't much either. In a medium sized bedroom, 6" can be surprisingly good, but 2.5" in a living room wide open to other rooms?
That's annoyed me. I just wonder what they're waiting for. He keeps expanding, but it seems at a tepid rate for a minimally profitable company. And Amazon doesn't really release enough information about anything for an investor to judge whether their strategies are sound for future profits in the absence of present profits.
Sounds great on paper. How well it actually works in practice may be another thing entirely.
Remember when Siri first came out? It made a lot of mistakes, and Apple's servers had terrible lag with some of the responses (or outright failures).
This is Amazon's first attempt. I can't imagine their offering will evolve any faster than Google's or Apple's did.
That means Version 2.0 or 3.0 of Echo might be great (in about 2 years). Not Version 1.0. But we will see.
Remember when Siri first came out? It made a lot of mistakes, and Apple's servers had terrible lag with some of the responses (or outright failures).
This is Amazon's first attempt. I can't imagine their offering will evolve any faster than Google's or Apple's did.
That means Version 2.0 or 3.0 of Echo might be great (in about 2 years). Not Version 1.0. But we will see.
Yeah, if your iphone is plugged into power. It MUST be plugged in for "hey Siri" to work
So, I was prompted to watch the video on Amazon's website, and was intrigued enough to request an invitation. Then I came back over here and saw that it only works with Android/Fire phones (even though it looked like the guy in the video was using an iPhone). So my invitation, if it arrives will go unanswered.
No iPhone app? Total fail.
No iPhone app? Total fail.
I believe you can select a list of name prompts during set-up. ALEXA is just the example the family decided to use. Scroll to 0:21 of the video: "We use the WAKE WORD that we chose..."
I originally thought Hey Siri was going to be an awesome feature. I quickly learned that the only time my phone is plugged in is while I sleep.
There's no way this tiny 1.1 thing is going to produce the sound quality I heard whilst watching that somewhat cringe-worthy ad, so I really have no interest in this as a product.
As a technology I can see the appeal, but come on, just give us high fidelity audio output via RCA and promote the sale of a quality 2.0 set up.
Not much is going to compare to this, and you don't have to spend a lot. Less than $150 and you can have a bluetooth adapter hooked up to some hard hitting, crisp sounding beautiful speakers and you will soon realise you've been putting up with ******** marketing if you've bought anything else.
I paid all of $120 for these speakers... plus a $30 logitech bluetooth adapter (I'm finding this thing about 80% as good as my decent creative sound card (80% because of a volume decrease, meaning a slight but detectable [in direct comparison] drop in quality, which is exceptional considering it cost less than 25% than the total for sound card, and I can use it stand alone) and I feel like I have a system that suits my needs pretty swimmingly. However, add a Siri like funtion to that $30 adapter and you may have my money, but probably not if my Australian accent prevents your dictation software from hearing me like so many do.
One step closer to the future at a time though, I guess.
As a technology I can see the appeal, but come on, just give us high fidelity audio output via RCA and promote the sale of a quality 2.0 set up.
Not much is going to compare to this, and you don't have to spend a lot. Less than $150 and you can have a bluetooth adapter hooked up to some hard hitting, crisp sounding beautiful speakers and you will soon realise you've been putting up with ******** marketing if you've bought anything else.
I paid all of $120 for these speakers... plus a $30 logitech bluetooth adapter (I'm finding this thing about 80% as good as my decent creative sound card (80% because of a volume decrease, meaning a slight but detectable [in direct comparison] drop in quality, which is exceptional considering it cost less than 25% than the total for sound card, and I can use it stand alone) and I feel like I have a system that suits my needs pretty swimmingly. However, add a Siri like funtion to that $30 adapter and you may have my money, but probably not if my Australian accent prevents your dictation software from hearing me like so many do.
One step closer to the future at a time though, I guess.
I think this is a GREAT start. Unfortunately, I need this to work within my Apple ecosystem. I want it to control my iTunes library, read and write texts, emails, notes, etc. from my Mac/iPhone, answer/initiate phone calls and communicate with my appliances via HomeKit (to check timers, control lights, lock/unlock doors). Of course, the capabilities will evolve over time to allow even more control over everything.
As was already mentioned, most people use a bluetooth speaker(s) anyway. Why wouldn't a device like this be next in the natural progression of technology?
I can definitely see standing in the kitchen with crap all over my hands and telling Siri to play something in my iTunes library or asking for details about the recipe I'm using because I certainly get tired of washing and drying my hands before handling my phone, just to get them dirty again to repeat the process every time I need to reference my phone.
But in the end, I think this is a pretty good idea to get people into the Prime membership. If an Echo with Prime membership costs the same as the speaker alone, I'm definitely getting the membership... and I'm gonna shop at Amazon more than I otherwise would considering the 2-day shipping.
If they keep designing these products to get people into their Prime memberships, I could really see this growing revenues. It's not a bad model.
As was already mentioned, most people use a bluetooth speaker(s) anyway. Why wouldn't a device like this be next in the natural progression of technology?
I can definitely see standing in the kitchen with crap all over my hands and telling Siri to play something in my iTunes library or asking for details about the recipe I'm using because I certainly get tired of washing and drying my hands before handling my phone, just to get them dirty again to repeat the process every time I need to reference my phone.
But in the end, I think this is a pretty good idea to get people into the Prime membership. If an Echo with Prime membership costs the same as the speaker alone, I'm definitely getting the membership... and I'm gonna shop at Amazon more than I otherwise would considering the 2-day shipping.
If they keep designing these products to get people into their Prime memberships, I could really see this growing revenues. It's not a bad model.
I agree! I'm not going to be installing an open mic connected to the internet in any room of my house. Conceptually I would find Echo handy but the implementation needs more work.
Amazon isn't and never has had a goal of making money on the devices they sell... their goal is to make money on the content people buy to use on the devices, and that has worked well for them. Some devices sell at cost or a slight loss, the higher end models make a small profit.... but all these devices are tired into their own echo system right down to the App store. (Sounds familiar.... oh, hi Apple!) The only difference between Apple and Amazon is Apple won't put out a piece of hardware with less than a 40% return.
If you think Kindle Fires aren't selling with their price points starting at $99, you're wrong.
Amazon's never-ending losses come from other places:
1. R&D
2. They invest in new things always (cloud, devices, distribution, drones!, and subscriptions, etc.)
3. They discount and have small margins
4. Shipping kills them....
5. They are developing Prime services like music, instant, lending library... and these are a big investment such as making your own TV shows.)
If Amazon paused, and just kept everything as it is right now, they probably would turn a profit. How much money do you think they spent last year developing and testing product delivery by drone?????
And so this is also why wal-street mostly loves the stock even though it's never made money.... Amazon is constantly moving forward and ahead of rivals and quite innovative.
You can slam their tech products, but considering they only entered this space a few years ago, they've done quite well. Fire Phone is an Epic failure.... and I think it's the one device they didn't try to give away. If they had used the same business strategy with the Fire Phone, it wouldn't have been $199 on contract.... it would have been $199 unlocked or maybe even $99.
Although my smartphone has a wake command, it has to be near me, and not in my pocket, for it to be useful.
I don't see this as, throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks. Instead, they are releasing new/cool items to the public to satisfy different markets/niches. For some people, it's just missing this logo
for them to LOVE it.
I could see this device obtaining information faster than a smartphone since it is always in the same location, so Amazon could potentially pre-cache the information it serves (weather, location-based news, etc).
New device, new market. I would encourage the haters to ponder the potential possibilities for an at home device like this, always connected. Ex: Reminder for an older person to take their medication; Life-Alert type replacement; some sort of security device (if the audio is solid).
I like the concept, and could see us using this device. Not sure about price, but the timing is solid given that the giving season is upon us.
I don't see this as, throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks. Instead, they are releasing new/cool items to the public to satisfy different markets/niches. For some people, it's just missing this logo
for them to LOVE it.I could see this device obtaining information faster than a smartphone since it is always in the same location, so Amazon could potentially pre-cache the information it serves (weather, location-based news, etc).
New device, new market. I would encourage the haters to ponder the potential possibilities for an at home device like this, always connected. Ex: Reminder for an older person to take their medication; Life-Alert type replacement; some sort of security device (if the audio is solid).
I like the concept, and could see us using this device. Not sure about price, but the timing is solid given that the giving season is upon us.
Are we required to keep our homes and personal property available to all authorities, for them to search, on their own whim/desire/hunch??
maybe i missed them but what are all these products by amazon that people are left with non working and unsupported?
there are quite a few people unhappy on this very forum with apples legendary support for ilife and iwork for instance. hell i gave up on imovie after the version in 06.
i dare to assume that even the massively unpopular fire phone is still functioning.
I signed up for the invitation, but then I saw the Edward Snowdon documentary and got paranoid. Not that I think the NSA cares when a retired librarian sets her alarm or asks what the weather is. But still, do I want something in my house that can listen in on eVerything I do? The amount of data Amazon can collect - and pass on to its advertising algorithms - is too much an invasion of privacy.
It's interesting that you have to request an invitation. Sounds like when you invite a vampire in to your house.
It's interesting that you have to request an invitation. Sounds like when you invite a vampire in to your house.
And what proof do you have it'll listen to absolutely everything for commercial purposes? None. Just like you have none about your phone, or your tablet, or anything else
Amazon has stated that an iOS app is in the works but primary focus is Android App which makes sense. Fire is android based so if it work on the fire it will work on other android powered phones. This means Android gets first priority. iOS follows.
Not Unlocked...
When are peoples' phones not powered on? And it doesn't have to be unlocked - just plugged in to charge, which is where my phone always is if it's not in my hand.
Echo is a solution to a problem Apple already solved.
----------
My iPhone is always either plugged in or in my hand, so that's not much of an issue...
When are peoples' phones not powered on? And it doesn't have to be unlocked - just plugged in to charge, which is where my phone always is if it's not in my hand.
Echo is a solution to a problem Apple already solved.
----------
My iPhone is always either plugged in or in my hand, so that's not much of an issue...