Amazon Alexa is a “colossal failure,” on pace to lose $10 billion this year

submitted by [deleted] from arstechnica.com

all 22 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]thoughtcriminal 7 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 4 fun -  (1 child)

Tax write-off and they still get to train their AI with all your private conversations for free.

[–]Newzok 7 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 2 fun8 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

That's why nobody wants it I guess. A friend has it and it's really only good for playing Spotify. No thanks.

[–]hfxB0oyA 6 insightful - 4 fun6 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 4 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, this smart home shit is creepy as hell. I don't even like having my phone around me, so I'm sure as hell not getting an Alexa.

[–]tiny-brown-mug 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I like my smartphone, but it creeps me out, too.

People have also reported their phone's social media apps showing them ads for incredibly specific things they merely thought about. I have no idea how that would even work, but it's a pretty common phenomenon.

[–]IX-Hispana 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I hope it's discontinued. Truly dystopian stuff. My company made a couple of skills with it. I couldn't believe it when I realized everything I had ever said to the thing while developing the skills was recorded and stored.

[–]peety 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (10 children)

Too big to fail, your tax dollars will bail out alexa

[–]noshore4me 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (8 children)

Amazon brings in over $700 billion annually. What makes you think they would need a taxpayer bail out over this?

[–]chadwickofwv 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

Simple, the deep state will gladly pay for it. It is their service after all.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

True that. They don't bail out small businesses who get screwed over, they bail out the big boys to ensure their profit.

[–]Airbus320 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

https://saidit.net/comments/63k7

[–]peety 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

why would they need subsidies from the US postal service? joo greed is behind all that's wrong in this world.

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-usps-rural-packages-deliveries-2020-5

[–]noshore4me 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

From your article: "Amazon is a big enough chunk of USPS revenues that, if USPS lost it, it would materially reduce their revenues without materially reducing their fixed costs"

So, the USPS is deliberately going with a lower rate to prevent Amazon from using UPS as their primary delivery partner. It's not a governmental subsidy, it's the USPS taking a small loss per package to prevent losing the whole business.

[–]peety 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

admittedly, i picked the first article out of my ass. critique these:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardmcgahey/2020/12/17/amazon-gets-billions-while-state-and-local-government-budgets-collapse/

https://www.investigativepost.org/2022/02/09/amazon-subsidies-4-7-billion-and-counting/

my loose point from my first comment, is that the payoff's/bribes/lobbying from amazon is just another way big businesses rape our taxpayers dollars from us. joo greed is behind nearly all the problems in the world. thank you for the reply.

[–]peety 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

another reason to hate joos: https://newrepublic.com/article/146540/amazon-thriving-thanks-taxpayer-dollars

https://publicservices.international/resources/publications/amazon-the-worlds-largest-company-is-subsidised-by-you?id=13058&lang=en

do your own research.

[–]noshore4me 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The USPS doesn't receive tax dollars to operate, it is solely funded by stamps and package fees. So I don't think it fits in this specific instance. Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/08/26/how-is-the-u-s-postal-service-governed-and-funded/

[–]Airbus320 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

https://saidit.net/comments/63k7

[–]ID10T 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I think this is inaccurate. The data is incredibly valuable.

[–]quantum-step 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

How much will the government pay them to keep it going? Like the Military and windows XP!!!!!! Looking at you US NAVY!

[–]Myocarditis-Man 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If this is true, it doesn't bode well for people who already have these things; because Amazon will have to pursue a more aggressive/profit focused business strategy.

If you want to see a current-day example of what I'm talking about, look at the current state of the Windows platform or cable TV or video games or well, anything controlled by a huge corporation. Ads everywhere, your machine doing stuff behind your back that you don't approve of like fetching and installing third party apps by itself, etc etc.

I've got an idea, extra monthly subscription fees to do things like set timers, reminders, etc etc.

Those questions aren't monetizable.

You underestimate corporate America and the power of psychology and marketing.

[–]Musky 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Amazon already tried monetizing the Alexa devices several times now, trying to solicit business through the voice assistant in various ways.

It's really annoying and I bet a customer backlash is why they stopped. Imagine asking for the weather and getting an ad, or asking for a definition and being asked to try a product. Didn't work, everyone just I assume, like me, just annoyedly tell Alexa to STFU.

I'm a little concerned they'll just drop the entire product line. I love mine, listen to an ungodly amount of music on the little spy.

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

If you must have an assistant, use the opensource Mycroft A.I.

https://Mycroft.ai

[–]Raven1221 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I love mine. I cannot wait to learn more.