The Amazon Echo’s version of apps are starting to explode.
Every day and in every way, Alexa is getting smarter. And when I say smarter, it almost feels like she is becoming more than just a device that sits—for the most part—quietly in my room.
As a companion and source of information, she is almost indispensable.
The cloud-based virtual assistant is what makes the Amazon Echo such an incredible piece of technology. The device has been in my life for nearly a year now and time has flown by. When I took the plunge, I almost thought that the novelty of asking a device specific questions would wear off but that has not been the case.
Much of what the Echo brings into my daily routine through the Alexa Voice Service are basically voice-activated apps. Amazon calls these “skills” and they are tools that have increased exponentially since the device hit the shelves—not in a physical sense, naturally—in 2015.
As far back as January this year, the Alexa app store had 135 skills, TechCrunch reported. For a nascent device trying to find its way in the connected world, that was promising start. Which makes the latest update from Amazon even more staggering.
The Amazon Echo—which by default means Alexa—now has over 1,000 skills.
Simplicity Is The Key Ingredient
In a press release, Amazon Alexa director Rob Pulciani said:
Less than a year ago we released the Alexa Skills Kit, making it possible for any developer to create voice experiences for Alexa. Today, we have a vibrant community of tens of thousands of developers who are learning about the service, bringing useful and innovative skills to every aspect of Alexa customers’ lives, and introducing their own users to the magic and simplicity of hands-free, voice-driven interactions. We’re excited about the 1,000 skills that are already available, and can’t wait to see what developers create with the next ten thousand.
*Not to scale
According to Amazon, following step-by-step tutorials can have a developer ready to build a skill in less than an hour—which might explain why some skills are less useful than others.
People use Alexa’s skills by opening the app, find the skill you want Alexa to have and clicking “enable.”
Alexa can give you data from your Fitbit, pay your Capital One credit card bill, turn on lights, control your ceiling fans or tell you that you have missed the latest train.
Discovering Skills Is Starting To Become Difficult For People
Alexa has made such an impact in the last 12 months that a comparison between 2016 iPhone shipments and the Echo was one of the 213 slides presented at the Recode conference by Internet trends analyst Mary Meeker. And there seems to be no limit to how far the device can go.
Wearables manufacturer Pebble has announced that Amazon Alexa integration will now be part of a Kickstarter-funded device—the 3G-connected Pebble Core. In a blog post, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky said that the integration of Alexa was “game-changing.”
“We’re longtime fans of the powerful voice services Alexa delivers, and it only gets smarter and more useful over time,” said Migicovsky.“It’s an approach we embrace with our own products.”
See also: Amazon’s Alexa’s Ambient Intelligence; Banking With Just Your Voice
In the press release that accompanied the announcement of the 1,000 skills milestone, a plethora of companies said how easy it was to build tools with the Alexa Skills Kit. “Alexa was a natural fit,” “the integration of Uber with Alexa has taken simplicity to a new level.”
With all these new skills, there is one issue that Amazon will need to pay particular attention to. And that is app discovery.
The Alexa skills store is not easy to navigate. When the skill store had 135 skills, this was not a problem. A quick scroll would find you something of interest and you would enable it. Just like the Apple App Store and Google Play, the skills market for Alexa will soon become bloated and difficult to navigate.
Search doesn’t work well in the Alexa app. Unlike the App Store and Google Play Store; there are no categories or top charts. You really do have to scroll through the pages to find what you want.
Running The Risk Of Bloat
Apps have star-ratings in the usual way but there is—much like the other apps stores—an awful lot of dead wood. Which is not that much of an issue with only 1,000 skills … but that is not likely to stay that low for much longer.
The Amazon Echo is a success, so much so that Google CEO Sundar Pichai cited the device as one reason why the company developed the forthcoming Google Home. And with four million units already sold, the Echo has a significant lead over its potential competitors.
The acid test will come when the number of apps reaches the 10,000 that Pulciani referred to in the press release. Alexa works right now because she combines simplicity with an ability to get smarter.
Stay in the know! Subscribe to ARC and keep up-to-date with a daily or weekly subscription.
