Amazon made Echo for 'alexa, order me wheat thins', and all the question answering and music playing is just window dressing.
I'm struggling to find a reason why ordering anything via Echo is a good idea. I wouldn't use Siri to order anything, so I'm not sure why I'd want to do this either. I like to research things before I buy them and so do most Amazon users (even if it's a quick glimpse at the overall rating). Do I have to have a long Q/A session with Echo to determine which specific type of socks I'd like it to order? It seems faster to just do this myself via my phone or laptop.
I'm not going to switch to Google Shopping because I can tell my phone to order things. I use Amazon because Amazon is the best place to buy things (for numerous reasons), and until that changes talking to my phone or a device in my house ins't going to effect this decision.
This just feels like a solution that no one was asking for, and that's generally the worst kind of product.
Edit: After multiple people pointed out that this WOULD be useful for re-ordering certain types of things (mainly food/kitchen stuff), I agree it would be useful for that purpose. That said, I think Amazon should be marketing this with that in mind, and the first place this should live is your kitchen, not your living room.
Have you tried Google shopping with Voice integration? It's pretty amazing. You say "Ok google, buy me Triscuts" and four hours later, there's Triscuts at the door.
If my grandpa were still alive I would totally set him up with this.
I definitely would like to read reviews and compare prices when buying a big ticket item like a tv or computer, but for repetitive or impulse purchases I would love to be able to make them with the least amount of friction possible.
I also think the drones are for this small, frequently ordered stuff.
I agree.
But reordering things...
But I don't buy that almost everyone will have it in their pocket, given the number of times I see people looking for their phones all over the place.
If that's the case, they should worry about Google Shopping Express and same-day delivery vs. 2-day after it's shipped. When Google does roll it out to most US metros, they likely are going to add it as an option to "Ok Google". And in a few hours, your order will be on your doorstep.
I mean, Amazon's delivery chain is absolutely amazing, but it simply can't compete with local delivery.
I'm sure they do. And I'm sure something will happen in the US too. Meanwhile in the UK, Amazon has started rolling out their own delivery depots to complement their large warehouses, and leaving partners to do local delivery from their depots instead of the full end-to-end delivery.
Recently they announced that as a part result of this, they've signed a deal with a retail magazine distributor to deliver your packages to local shops etc. for pickup.
Not quite Google Shopping Express - yet - but it means that you can shortly get your packages in ~12 hours nearly UK wide, from an inventory my local stores can't compete with, because they're constrained by the cost of retail space.
> I mean, Amazon's delivery chain is absolutely amazing, but it simply can't compete with local delivery.
Most of what I've ordered from Amazon over the last year isn't available from local shops. A lot of it isn't even available from Amazons UK warehouses, and end up getting drop-shipped from other parts of the world. That's what stops me from going other places: Amazon aggregates a whole lot of sources that extends the products available to me far beyond what a service that aggregates local companies can.
And I bet that following the rollout of their local depots, they'll start predictively moving stock of their best selling products ahead of time to cut times further. Especially since the more they push through those depots, the more flexibility they will have in route scheduling for the last leg delivery to cut delivery times even further.
I was long very negative on the short/medium term potential for speech recognition, but while I still don't use it very often, it's convenient in enough situations that I use it now and again.