Report: Tough times for Alexa
Amazon's voice assistant tech division could face a rough future as per a Business Insider report...
On November 19, Business Insider published a bleak report on the current state of Alexa, the voice assistant technology division of Amazon.
Here are some key points:
The Alexa division is under the "Worldwide Digital" group, which also includes Amazon Prime video. Alexa lost $3 billion in Q1 2022, with "the great bulk" of such losses attributable to the division. This is roughly double the losses of any other division, and the hardware team is on track to lose $10 billion this year.
Amazon is now undergoing the largest layoffs in the company's history, with a plan to cut 10,000 employees. Alexa has been particularly affected.
Alexa's Echo line is among the "best-selling commodities on Amazon," yet the majority of Alexa devices are sold at cost.
Most attempts to monetize Alexa have failed.
Tough times indeed…