Amazon considering monthly charge for Alexa

[Riptide]

Alexa is already a struggling part of the business. This will kill it for good.

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[Hillbilly]

I don’t consider reviewing bills an inconvenience at all.

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[beatle]

Is there an argument that you are already paying for these services via the resale and use of the metadata collected and the wholesale of your personal privacy?

That's been Amazon's stance since they started it, but they're finding that the "currency" of your data is not enough to cover their costs to provide the service. I think the (rightful) gripe here is that people are often lulled into receiving a free service that then turns into one that costs money without the disclosure that it is going to happen.

I don't mind so much paying a subscription to a service that reflects a noticeable ongoing cost on the business to provide it as long as I know that up front. Music/video streaming, mobile connectivity, and home broadband connectivity are all pretty reasonable for what you get. For digital assistants it's a bit different since they all started as free. I think it depends on the price and whether you're paying per device or a flat fee for all of your devices. I have 4 echo dots and an echo show in my house that I use primarily for streaming music, setting timers, checking the weather, answering trivia questions, and interacting with other smart devices. There are alternative solutions to get all of those, but all can be less convenient - sometimes substantially so.

 

[Chadasm]

…That said, it appears Amazon is still holding out hope that Alexa will drive product sales but, I hate to be the one to break the bad news to them, that is never going to happen...

My girlfriend ordered Lysol once when she was trying to turn the Lights On from the one in the kitchen. She doesn’t really pay attention to it when it talks back, so I’m sure she just said yes when it asked if she was sure. So it drove one sale at least!

 

[Captain JB]

If Alexa worked well, the point may be brought up. I am a 7 month R1S owner and Alexa is horrible at best. Some days it is there, many it is not. It wont work for two drivers. I would never pay for this incompetence. I would pay for Apple Play a far superior product that enhances safety. JB

 

[DaveA]

She plays the fart sounds I request with incredible accuracy. Wouldn't pay her for it though. But if you use Amazon Music, she's pretty handy.

 

[Captain JB]

alexa is horrible even when it works which is 40% of the time. I wont be paying for this medicore product

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