Echo Show smart displays have even each been
given a manual shutter.
However, not all tech observers were convinced
by Amazon’s privacy-focused rhetoric and
policies. OneZero’s Will Oremus claimed that at
the Seattle event, Amazon “showed us that it has
finally caught on to the Silicon Valley approach
to privacy, which is to pay it earnest-sounding
lip service as cover to unveil a slew of new
invasive products”. Still, exactly how “invasive”
these products actually are remains a subjective
judgment. So, what actually did get announced
on the big day?
STRUGGLING FOR DOMINANCE IN A
MOBILE-FIRST WORLD
Much of the press event concerned a significant
expansion of Amazon’s already well-regarded
Echo product line. That line started, of course,
back in 2014 with the launch of the first Amazon
Echo smart speaker – and today, Amazon
routinely uses the Echo brand name for devices
that let users interact with Alexa. Even before
a single Amazon executive took to the stage
in Seattle, the company had already carved
out 70% of the smart speaker market in the
United States.
However, this success hasn’t translated into an
unassailable lead for Amazon in the broader
market of virtual assistant usage. One recent
study by Microsoft, which takes account of
the picture internationally rather than just
nationally, reported that Google Assistant and
Apple’s Siri were tied for the lead on 36% each,
with Alexa following on 25% and Microsoft’s
Cortana trailing on 19%. Unsurprisingly given