A few weeks ago, Amazon released a new template and tutorial to help novice programmers build skills for the Amazon Alexa. The resulting “quiz” skills – applications that entertain with questions on command – are now plentiful and available. The forum is filled with astute comments on the impact on overall skills quality. Other bloggers have delineated the impact on the (already broken) skills rating system.
This week Amazon is doing a roadshow to promote the Alexa, traveling from city-to-city to generate interest in building skills. They will have a short talk followed by a hack-a-thon facilitated by Amazon reps. Here are a few of the questions we’ll be asking:
- When will Amazon engage its target audience – its Echo developers – in conversations about system development, functional milestones, usability requirements, etc.?
- How does Amazon plan to correct the well-documented issues with skill ratings?
- What progress is being made towards addressing the issues with voice recognition?
- When will Amazon open its Echo Skills Marketplace?
Right now the Amazon Echo is most notable for its ability to order a Domino’s pizza, stream music from Spotify, and hail an Uber (a la Gizmodo’s Amazon Echo Is Suddenly a Lazy Stoner’s Dream). The question is whether the Alexa ecosystem will grow if the most viable business model involves stoners. Everyone knows that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy and that generals tend to fight the last war. With Alexa, Amazon lacks commitment towards the ecosystem. Will Amazon realize the potential of its product by taking advantage of the ecosystem which has emerged around the Echo?
