amazon's plan to launch a paid version of Alexa is part of a strategy shift to reverse the more than $25 billion losses its device business suffered between 2017 and 2021, according to a report by the company. tech/amazon-alexa-devices-echo-losses-strategy-25f2581a”>A report by The Wall Street JournalAlexa, the supercharged ai version rumored to cost as much as $10 a month, could arrive as early as this month.
With a potential launch just weeks away, employees are uncertain whether the new version of Alexa will be successful. One person who worked on the Alexa team told the outlet WSJ newspaper that the division is close to meeting a deadline to launch the subscription even though “the technology is not there.” Former amazon devices chief David Limp was the first to reveal amazon’s plans to charge for an upgraded version of Alexa last year.
technology/amazon-mulls-5-10-monthly-price-tag-unprofitable-alexa-service-ai-revamp-2024-06-21/”>As previously reported by Reuters, The “more conversational” Alexa is supposed to come with generative ai features that could allow it to complete multiple tasks on a single prompt and learn from users to create routines. But amazon has reportedly fallen far behind on the project. Last month, a report from Fortune He suggested that Alexa is not even close to “achieving amazon's mission of being 'the world's best personal assistant'” as the team grapples with technical and organizational issues.
Employees are also concerned about whether people will want to pay a subscription on top of amazon's $139-a-year Prime membership. WSJ newspaper Since basic versions of ai assistants (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and soon an enhanced version of Siri) cost nothing, amazon might have a hard time charging for Alexa, especially when the existing version of the voice assistant will remain free.
