Slashdot Mirror


Amazon Says 100 Million Alexa Devices Have Been Sold (theverge.com)

More than 100 million devices with Alexa on board have been sold. From a report: That's the all-too-rare actual number that Amazon's SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed to me earlier this week. That's not to say Amazon has finally decided to be completely transparent about device sales, however. While the company claims it outstripped its most optimistic expectations for the Echo Dot during the holiday season, Limp wouldn't give a number for that. Instead, Limp says, Amazon is sold out of Dots through January, despite "pushing pallets of Echo Dots onto 747s and getting them from Hong Kong to here as quickly as we possibly could."

28 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. That's a lot of spying... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope Amazon treats the accumulated data with integrity.

    1. Re:That's a lot of spying... by Desler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's also a lot of dumbfuck consumers.

    2. Re:That's a lot of spying... by antdude · · Score: 1

      Even my audiologist has one. :O

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    3. Re:That's a lot of spying... by monaaa123 · · Score: 1

      Benefits. Why choose Google AdWords Express? AdWord Express offers online advertising for all businesses looking to increase their site traffic and get more transactions on their website locally or globally. It’s perfect for the one-person marketing team, or if you don’t need all the features of AdWords. Discover paid search advertising with Google Search engine optimizationDigital Maketing In Aurangabad

  2. And are they using it? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Recently I was looking at new thermostats. Not even looking for a smart thermostat, and one of the options had Alexa built in... but even if I bought that model, I would not enabling it.

    I have to wonder how many other devices have been sold that include Alexa, but are not using it?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:And are they using it? by Desler · · Score: 2

      Yeah because the point of people buying something like an Amazon Dot is to not use the Alexa feature. Right....

    2. Re:And are they using it? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Are you sure it had Alexa built in and not just an Alexa skill available?

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  3. I for one by nwaack · · Score: 2

    welcome our new speaker-assistant overlords. (Sorry, couldn't help myself)

    1. Re:I for one by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      In South Korea, only old people welcome new overlords. In North Korea, speaker-assistant overlords welome YOU!

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    2. Re:I for one by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Actually, I believe it's in Soviet Russia where the speaker-assistant overlords welcome YOU. North Korea has the best speaker-assistant overlords.

    3. Re:I for one by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      Normally, I'd have gone that way. In this case, using North Korea seemed more appropriate.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    4. Re:I for one by maestroX · · Score: 1

      They took our jobs!

  4. Orwell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    A fucking genius. But what a better way to let Big Brother into your life. You didn't have to raise a weapon, invade a home, or even threaten anyone. People would just willingly accept it and embrace it. Before long, it became a demand. Please Big Brother! Come into my home and spy on me and keep me in line. I don't want to have to leave the couch and go get food or toiletries because I am a lazy, anti-social, subhuman species.

    Alexa. Order that lead kitchen pan set with matching spatula and plutonium baking pan. I want to sink into the cesspool of the history of mankind.

  5. It's the auxiliary inclusion by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Yeah because the point of people buying something like an Amazon Dot

    Amazon here is not saying how many Dot units they shipped it is "Alexa enabled devices". Have you been paying attention to how many devices have Alexa included as an additional feature?

    Cars for example...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  6. not me by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I don't have one of those. I don't trust it.

  7. I wonder... by Mnemennth · · Score: 1

    I wonder how many of those "devices" are smartphones and tablets. :rolleyes:

    mnem
    "It's hard work being this cynical; but I have a lot of Karma to burn off."

  8. could be higher by renegade600 · · Score: 1

    think how many more Amazon would sell if it was sold at Walmart. You cannot even order it from them online. Walmart does sell Google Home.

    1. Re:could be higher by molarmass192 · · Score: 1

      Uhhhh, not sure which Walmart or Target you shop at, but they're definitely there, BestBuy too. In fact, the Walmart here was literally sold out of Echo devices. As for the number sold, I know a lot of people with these things. The issue for me as a developer is that monetizing these things is far easier said than done. There's no pay-to-play app store and subscriptions require an off device setup. That's a lot of friction to overcome to cover your dev costs.

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
  9. This past Christmas... by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

    My brother-in-law got a couple of them for Christmas. I did try ordering creamed corn, but he didn't link it to an Amazon account with purchase capabilities.

    At the moment, he just uses it to stream various radio stations. At some point, he wants to put the outside light switches on it.

  10. Dilemma [Re:That's a lot of spying...] by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    It's also a lot of dumbfuck consumers.

    Part of me wants to get one to learn about and get familiar with new technology to avoid being/appearing/acting like an old fuddy-duddy, but part of me is bothered by the snoopware angle.

    If I go for it, how do I know which brand is the least snoopish?

  11. Re:100 million spying devices in the wild by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

    No one in their right mind would ever allow an always listening, internet connected, device in their home.

    They aren't technically always listening devices *yet*. They are currently built so that they can only recognize their special phrase and only then does it capture and send the data to the cloud to interpret. This is why it can still respond to its special phrase even when there is no internet but it can't actually interpret what you say without internet.

  12. The people I know who have one or more of these by waspleg · · Score: 2

    use the same logic they do for their facebook accounts. "I just use it to listen to music, I just use it to check the weather, I just use it to xyz seemingly innocuous thing." Meanwhile that bitch is an always on spy in your house.

    They wonder how they were talking about something with a friend in person and then suddenly there are ads all over their facebook page for that exact thing when they have that shit on their phone. I am talking about IT PROFESSIONALS here, imagine how much worse it is for your mom. People are fucking clueless have no idea what they've opted in to and don't value what they're losing because they didn't know they had it. They will one day when it's completely gone and life is a full on Black Mirror episode instead of the partial one it is now.

    1. Re:The people I know who have one or more of these by Znarl · · Score: 1

      I treat Facebook as if everything I put on it in public or private is exactly like putting the same information on a bulletin board in a busy mall and just assume it is being shared far and wide. But jokes on them, I am very boring and so is what I share on facebook. I've not installed Facebook's apps and assume it tracks me all over the web. Facebook comes with a price and I understand that price and feel at this time it's worth paying.

      But with Alexa I don't feel I have enough choices as to what I share with it. I don't also feel comfortable having the largest retailer in the world know so much about me and be able to always listen to me. If I started building on it and using it for home automation then I may not be able to easily remove it from my life unlike Facebook. I don't think the price for Alexa is worth paying.

  13. A kindle is an Alexa device. by rossdee · · Score: 1

    I have a 7 inch Fire,
    I did not enable the Alexa function.
    I wonder how many of those devices are actually being 'used' as a spying device.

  14. Force behind "1984" by geekymachoman · · Score: 1

    It's not corporations, governments, churches or whatever.

    It's the people themselves that are primary cause behind privacy erosion, big brother spy camera-on-every-corner societies.

    Corporations, governments and churches are happy to assist though, because that's what we have them for.. to cater to our desires and needs, and apparently... most people desire and need a spy device inside their houses.

  15. Soon our takeover will be complete. by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

    You wondered why Alexa was giggling last year? Soon, you will wonder no more.

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  16. 100M people to spied on 24/7 by grumpy-cowboy · · Score: 1

    It will take only 1 story about a lost/kidnapped kid found because of
    Alexa/Google Home/... device using voice recognition to see these devices in
    EVERY home because "it's safer for the kids!".

    It will be the "normal" to have a device spying 24/7 in your home. And if you
    don't have one, it's probably because you have something to hide!

    --
    Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
  17. I have one ... by johnlcallaway · · Score: 1

    It's sitting in a box on my desk next to my Google mini. It was a gift, I prefer Google.

    So the sales numbers are just that, sales numbers. Doesn't mean how many are being used, except as an upper limit.

    Why don't I use it?? Because I don't feel like managing two different systems Google Home does everything I need, I prefer Google Home and I'd rather spend $35 on another Google mini if I need one than bother maintaining two different systems.

    --
    I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.