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1. THE AMAZON ECHO
Introduction
Ever since science fiction movies of the 50s, we’ve imagined controlling our technology
simply by speaking our desires out loud. We’re standing on the threshold of that reality.
With the developments in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and the introduction of
more and more internet-connected devices, we’re getting close to a time when we’ll be
able to carry on a conversation with our technology, and ask it to answer our questions
and complete tasks for us as if we have live personal assistant.
1. WHAT IS THE PROJECT TITLE?
-AMAZON ECHO
Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled assistant that uses the Alexa Voice Service to play
music, and connect to the internet to get information, news, weather, and more.
Available services[edit]
Echo devices offer weather from AccuWeather and news from a variety of sources,
including local radio stations, BBC, NPR,
and ESPN from TuneIn and iHeartRadio.[14] Echo can play music from the owner's
Amazon Music accounts[15] and has built-in support for other streaming music services
like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Pandora and Sirius XM among
others,[16] and has support for IFTTT and Nest thermostats.[17] Echo can also play music
from non-compatible music streaming services such as Google Play Music from a phone
or tablet via Bluetooth. Echo maintains voice-controlled alarms, timers, shopping and
to-do lists and can access Wikipedia articles. Echo will respond to questions about items
in one's Google Calendar. It also integrates with Yonomi,[18] Philips Hue, Belkin
Wemo, SmartThings, Insteon, and Wink.[19][20] Additionally, integration with the Echo is
in the works for Countertop by Orange Chef, Sonos,[21] Scout Alarm, Garageio, Toymail,
MARA, and Mojio.[22] Questions like "Who is Barack Obama?" are answered by reading
the first few lines of the corresponding Wikipedia article.[23]
Echo devices also have access to "skills" built with the Alexa Skills Kit. These are third-
party-developed voice applications that add to the capabilities of any Alexa-enabled
device (such as the Echo). Examples of skills include the ability to play music, answer
general questions, set an alarm, order a pizza or a ridesharing car (e.g., Uber, Lyft),
and more. Skills are continuously being added to increase the capabilities available to
the user. For example, one new skill that Alexa has learned is the ability to play
"games" with users. One such game is "Escape the Garage" in which the user must

2. correctly answer questions that Alexa asks, while figuring out a way to escape. The
Alexa Skills Kit is a collection of self-service application programming interfaces (API),
tools, documentation and code samples that make it fast and easy for any developer to
add skills to Alexa. Developers can also use the "Smart Home Skill API",[24] a new
addition to the Alexa Skills Kit, to easily teach Alexa how to control cloud-controlled
lighting and thermostat devices. All of the code runs in the cloud and nothing is on any
user device. A developer can follow tutorials to learn how to quickly build voice-
response capability for their new and existing applications.[25]
In November 2018, a major new feature was launched that will allow users to
make Skype calls. Every past and present Echo device will be able to dial a number via
Skype. Echo devices that have a display will offer full video Skype capability.[26]
In May 2019, Amazon released Alexa Guard. If "Away mode" is enabled, if an Echo
device detects the sound of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, or glass breaking,
it will send alerts to the Alexa app on smartphones. If the user has professional
monitoring, it can send alerts directly to the security provider. It can also switch smart
lights on and off to make it look like someone is home. Amazon also offers Guard Plus,
this paid for option enables other features such as playing the sound of a dog barking
when an intruder is detected.[27]
Voice Services
The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) allows developers to voice-enable connected products
with a microphone and speaker. The AVS enables volume control, audio playback, and
speech recognition.[28] The devices have natural lifelike voices resulting from speech-
unit technology. High speech accuracy is achieved through sophisticated natural
language processing (NLP) algorithms built into the Echo's text-to-speech (TTS)
engine.[citation needed]
Software updates
As with all Alexa devices, the functionality of Echo smart speakers periodically evolves
as Amazon releases new software for it. Most new releases fix bugs in addition to
including enhanced functionality. New releases are pushed to the devices on a gradual
basis so it may take several days to a week or more for a particular device to be
updated. Because much of Echo's intelligence lies in the cloud, significant functional
enhancements can be made to Echo without updating the software version it is running.
For example, in April 2015, the Echo added the ability to give live sports scores without
updating the software version running on the device.[30]
Smart Home
The Amazon Echo is able to connect to many different smart home devices.
Thermostats, humidifiers, lightbulbs, plugs, dog and cat feeder, door locks, cameras,
thermostats, security systems, speakers, WiFi, televisions, vacuums, microwaves,
printers, and other smart home devices can now all be controlled through Alexa. Alexa
can be used to activate and deactivate all of these smart home appliances, as well as
change their settings depending on the device. For example, Alexa can be used to

3. change the temperature in a house through a thermostat, turn off the lights with smart
lights, put out dog or cat food via a smart pet feeder, and activate the security systems
via a smart security system. The user is able to organize these smart home devices by
putting them into groups. For example, a user can make a "Music Group" on the
Amazon Echo.[31] The Amazon Echo will be able to play music and other media in
multiple rooms in a house through other Echos and speakers that are in the "Music
Group". Along with multiple groups, an Amazon Echo can hold multiple profiles.
Switching between the profiles can allow users to play their music, access their
calendars, and use their accounts for shopping, instead of just using one person's.[32]
In December 2021, an outage of Amazon's cloud service caused smart home devices to
stop working.[33]
Hands-free
Amazon Echos are able to make calls and send messages. Users can make calls to
another Amazon Echo or speaker that is in the house by calling the device name. Users
can also make calls and send messages to other people that have an Amazon Echo.
This is done by connecting the user's contacts to the Amazon Echo. The user's Amazon
Echo will call their contact's Amazon Echo. They will be able to have a conversation
using the Amazon Echos. Messages will go to the contact's phone, in the Alexa App.
The message can also be played on the Echo.[32]
2. WHO IS THE PRIMARY END-USER?
-PEOPLE WHO LOVE THE IDEA OF HAVING A DIGITAL PERSONAL ASSISTANT WHO
SIMPLIFIES THEIR LIVES
Which Includes:
1. People who like voice control over their smart home devices
2. People who like Alexa as a personal assistant
3. People who like the Echo’s built-in features (playing music, setting alarms, and
providing weather updates)
4. People who find the Echo useful for tasks like shopping and ordering food
5. People buy the Echo for its amazing sound quality
6. People who enjoy using the Echo because it’s a fun and convenient gadget
#1. People who like voice control over their smart home devices
For many people, the idea of a smart home is very appealing. The ability to control your
lights, appliances, and other devices with just your voice is something that can save a
lot of time and hassle. And for people who are always on the go, it can be a real
lifesaver.

4. This segment of the Amazon Echo target market is made up of people who see the
value in having a voice-controlled assistant to help manage their smart home devices.
These people are likely to be early adopters of new technology and may already have a
few smart home devices. They’re also likely to be Amazon Prime members, as this gives
them access to free two-day shipping on Amazon Echo and other Amazon products.
People in this segment of the Amazon Echo target market are willing to pay a premium
for the convenience of having a voice-controlled assistant. They’re also likely to be very
satisfied with the product, as it meets their needs and expectations.
#2. People who like Alexa as a personal assistant
Amazon Echo includes Alexa which is a voice-controlled assistant that can be used to
play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more.
People who see the value in having a personal assistant are likely to be very satisfied
with the Amazon Echo. They’re also likely to use it for a wide variety of tasks, including
setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and controlling smart home
devices.
People in this segment of the Amazon Echo target market like to be organized and like
the idea of getting help from a PA to manage their day-to-day tasks. And they’re willing
to pay a premium for the Amazon Echo because it offers them convenience and peace
of mind.
#3. People who like the Echo’s built-in features
The Amazon Echo comes with a host of built-in features that are designed to make your
life easier. These features include playing music, setting alarms, and providing weather
updates.
It also has the ability to control several smart devices using itself as a home automation
hub. This is a valuable feature for people who want to be able to control their smart
home devices with just their voice.
What people in this segment of the Amazon Echo target market is the convenience of
having a single device that can do many things. This takes away the need to have
multiple devices that each perform a single task.
#4. People who find the Echo useful for tasks like shopping and ordering
food
One of the benefits of the Amazon Echo is that it can be used to perform tasks like
shopping and ordering food online. This is a valuable feature for people who are busy
and don’t have the time to go to the store or cook a meal.

5. People in this segment of the Amazon Echo target market are likely to be busy
professionals or busy parents who appreciate the convenience of being able to shop
and order food using their voices.
#5. People buy the Echo for its amazing sound quality
One of the reasons people buy the Amazon Echo is for its amazing sound quality. The
Echo uses Dolby technology to produce rich, immersive sound.
This is a valuable feature for people who enjoy listening to music or who want to have
an immersive experience when watching movies or TV shows.
People who appreciate great sound quality are also likely to buy other sound systems or
audio equipment.
#6. People who enjoy using the Echo because it’s a fun and convenient
gadget
Finally, there are people who buy the Amazon Echo because they think it’s a fun and
convenient gadget. They may not use all of its features, but they enjoy having it in their
home.
People in this segment of the Amazon Echo target market are likely to be gadget lovers
who like to have the latest and greatest devices. Their purchase may not be limited to
the Amazon Echo but they are also likely to buy other gadgets like smartwatches and
smart glasses.
The Amazon Echo primary end-user includes people who like voice control over
their smart home devices as well as a device that plays music, sets alarms, and
provides weather updates.
Many people who want a personal assistant to get organized also like using the Amazon
Echo for its digital assistant – Alexa. This crowd may also like that the Echo can perform
useful tasks like shopping and ordering food.
People who appreciate a music device with amazing sound quality are also likely to buy
an Echo for this reason. And finally, people who just love gadgets because they are fun
are also attracted to the Echo.
3.) WHO ELSE RECEIVES THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS WHEN THE PRODUCT IS
USED?

6. 1. People building its skills
Customers rarely pay these developers and marketers directly, but they have a big
stake in these workers' efforts. Their success, or failure, will determine the number and
the quality of skills, such as more complex games, better smart-home controls and
more services from companies like Lyft or Domino's Pizza.
Two years ago, there wasn't nearly as much to do on Alexa and the market for making
Alexa skills was worth a mere $500,000. Now, with more than 25,000 skills available,
the market is expected to hit $50 million in 2018, according to analytics firm VoiceLabs.
That's dwarfed by the mobile app economy, with global sales of over $50 billion, but
Alexa is growing at a far faster rate.
Responding to those concerns, Amazon's Pulciani said the company is "relentlessly
exploring" ways for customers to get an enjoyable experience while helping developers
"build a voice-first business." He added that the rewards payments weigh a number of
factors, including "minutes of usage, new customers, recurring customers, customer
ratings and more."
Since late October, Amazon has introduced two new ways to make money. It offers in-
skill purchasing, allowing some developers to sell premium content or digital
subscriptions in their skills. That means Sony, which made the Jeopardy skill, can sell a
subscription to Double Jeopardy, which offers more clues. Amazon also added its
Amazon Pay service to skills so, for example, TGI Friday's customers can pay for their
food orders through Alexa. Both features still have limited availability, but Amazon said
more developers will get access to them in 2018.
Amazon also said it's already paid millions of dollars to developers through its rewards
program, which it's expanding to more countries in 2018.
Beyond those payment options, Amazon has cultivated developers by hosting
hackathons and webinars, teaming up with educational groups like Codecademy, and
creating the Alexa Champions program, which highlights indie developers like Johnson.
It also runs challenges like the Alexa Prize, a college competition that pays $500,000 to
the winner.

7. 2. Retail Stores
Today, more than a year after its debut, Amazon announced that the Echo is coming to
third-party physical retail stores for the first time.
The Echo will be available at Staples, The Home Depot, Sears, Fred Meyer and
various other big box and electronics stores. It’s coming to more than 3,000 retail
locations across the U.S. in time for holiday shopping. It will cost the same $179.99 as
it does on Amazon’s site.
Amazon was already working with Staples to sell the Echo in the office supply chain’s
online store, but customers have never before been able to purchase the Echo at a
physical location. However, this isn’t the first Amazon-made product to hit store
shelves. Staples, Fred Meyer and a handful of other retailers already offer Kindles and
Fire TVs to their customers.
But by offering the Echo at hardware stores like The Home Depot where many smart
home appliances are sold, Amazon and its partners are positioning the Echo as a smart
home device.
3. Shipping and delivery Services
Amazon is on a spending spree to grow its shipping business and isn’t content with only
delivering products purchased on its own site. The company is now moving cargo for
outside customers in its latest move to compete directly with FedEx and UPS.
“They want to be a new kind of U.S. Postal Service where everything can get
everywhere, but also quickly,” said e-commerce consultant Chris McCabe, who was a
seller performance investigator at Amazon from 2006 to 2012.
Amazon said in its first-quarter earnings report that capital expenditures were up a
whopping 80% from a year earlier, helping it increase capacity of its in-house logistics
network by 50% year over year. According to SJ Consulting Group, Amazon is now
shipping 72% of its own packages, up from 46.6% in 2019.
For outside merchants, Amazon already offers a variety of shipping services. In the
U.K., Amazon has a “logistics as a service” program — a business model that
researchers from DePaul University predict Amazon will launch in the U.S. in the next
18 months, while Morgan Stanley predicted it could happen this year. According to one
investigation, Amazon has already begun quietly transporting cargo on its planes for the
U.S. Postal Service, although analysts say it won’t try to replicate the vast array of
services offered by FedEx and UPS.

8. 4.WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO PAY FOR THIS PRODUCT?
Millennials are the heaviest users, but voice assistant use is growing among all age
groups, including children, teens and seniors.
Millennials are known to adapt to new technologies quicker and make up a fourth of the
spending power (Cutler, 2015; Lissitsa & Kol, 2016). A majority of the cohort has been
found to use voice technology daily, but the use of the technology has yet to be studied
(Moore, 2018).

9. 5. HAS A DESIGN OR DESIGN RECOMMENDATION BEEN PRESENTED?
JEFF BEZOS FIRST sketched out the device that would become the Amazon
Echo on a conference room whiteboard in early 2011:
The first-ever depiction of a device with Alexa—the artificially intelligent virtual
assistant that Bezos would name after the ancient library of Alexandria—showed
the speaker, a microphone, and a mute button. It wouldn’t be able to understand
commands right out of the box, so the sketch identified the act of configuring the
device to a wireless network as a challenge requiring further thought.
The Amazon team tried to reassure themselves that their product was unique,
since it would be independent from smartphones. They were also attempting to
pull off a much more technically complex feat. Siri’s users spoken commands
directly into microphones. Amazon was trying to build a service capable of
understanding language spoken from across a noisy room, using a relatively
immature technology called far-field speech recognition.

10. 6.HAS A PROOF OF CONCEPT BEEN DEMOSTRATED?
1. FEASIBILITY OF VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY IN CONTROLLED DEFENSE
INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
-The Amazon Echo is a voice-activated device that processes commands using the
cloud-based Alexa artificial intelligence engine. The DIA received an Echo device from
Amazon and are interested in exploring how it could be integrated into the Discovery
Centers’ operations.
Includes assessing:
1. Client- vs. Server-Based Processing
2. Information Leakage
3. Alternative Techniques, Devices & Recommendations
2. PROVING THE POWER OF VOICE ASSISTANTS TO ENGAGE AUDIENCES
-Manifesto helped Cancer Research UK investigate whether home assistants like
Amazon Echo could be used to increase supporter engagement and disseminate cancer
information more easily, by helping them rapidly prototype three different proof-of-
concept propositions over the course of a single day.
-Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
cancer has helped save millions of lives. Their digital innovation team is constantly
exploring how new technologies can help the organisation achieve its ambitious long-
term goal of raising the cancer survival rate. One of the avenues they wanted to
investigate was whether home assistants like Amazon Echo could be used to increase
supporter engagement and disseminate cancer information more easily.
-They donated some time to build a proof of concept to show senior stakeholders at
CRUK how Amazon Echo could be used to share cancer information with those who
need it via a conversational interface. Over the course of a single day, we worked with
the digital innovation team at Cancer Research UK to rapidly prototype three different
proof of concept propositions. We also pointed out natural extensions to these high
level concepts which would further enhance the experience and provided guidance on
the feasibility of delivering them via Alexa skills.

11. 3.VIABILITY OF AMAZON’S DRIVEN INNOVATIONS TARGETING SHOPPERS’
IMPULSIVENESS
-This research is amongst the first to consider the long-term incremental sales effect
of e-retailers’ tech innovations when driven by impulsive shopping behaviour. The
study discussed that such models are not sustainable in the long-run given self-
inhibiting controls that shoppers would perform after regular exposure to the driving
stimuli. The Amazon model encouraged the generation of WOM, and with it, the
continued interaction with the tech-driven ordering solutions.
7. Has a lab prototype has been presented?
PROTOTYPES:
The Amazon Designers kept coming back to circular designs with a touchscreen. A circle
felt fresh and exciting. A perfect way to add touch as a supplement to a smaller, voice-
forward device with a screen. It was a blank canvas, from a design viewpoint. And it
wasn’t until we started building software prototypes that we realized just how blank of
a canvas it was.
Failure is a necessary part of design. For every groundbreaking product, dozens of
prototypes end up in the trash. But failure can be fun. It leads to insights. We had
prototypes that overheated and prototypes that were top-heavy and tipped over when
you touched them. And with each failure a valuable new lesson was learned.
STARTING AT THE START:

12. THE CIRCULAR FORM EMERGES:
THE EARLY WORKING PROTOTYPE:

13. OTHER PROTOTYPES:
LAST STAGE OF CASE MODELS
THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

14. THE EXISTING PRODUCTS which EMERGED FROM THE AMAZON ECHO:
The standard Amazon Echo
This Echo is the standard smart speaker first released by Amazon, the flagship
model that would define all others and introduce Alexa to the world. It’s also the
model that has gone through the most changes.

15. Amazon Echo Plus
The goal of the Echo Plus was to offer a premium version of the Echo with some
extra capabilities. Amazon appears to have slowly merged the Echo and Echo Plus,
making this particular line a short-lived one.
Amazon Echo Dot
Amazon felt that some users were looking for a smart speaker that was smaller and
more portable than the Echo, something that could be used up close. Enter the Echo
Dot, which has all the same Alexa features as the Echo but inside a much smaller,
puck-like speaker.

16. Amazon Echo Show
Smart speakers eventually evolved into smart displays — which are essentially smart
speakers with a touchscreen that can display information, video chats, and videos or
shows, as well as offer more direct control, among other features. Amazon was one
of the first companies to release a smart display in the form of the Echo Show,
another line that has changed dramatically over the years.
Amazon Echo Studio
While all Echos can connect to compatible sound systems, Amazon wanted an Echo
that could really take center stage and offer great audio in entertainment systems.
Enter the Echo Studio, a much larger model featuring five speakers plus support
for Dolby Atmos and Amazon’s 3D Audio. The model also had sensors that could
determine a room’s acoustics and make small adjustments in response.

17. Amazon Echo Auto
Amazon released the first Echo Auto in 2019, a device designed to work with your
car’s system and your phone to give you Alexa capabilities in your car without
having to open up the Alexa app. The goal was to easily stream your Alexa music
services in your car and turn your phone into a car display if you didn’t have one.
There were some compatibility issues with the first model, but in 2022, Amazon
released a second version, both smaller and easier to mount, along with added
roadside assistance capabilities.
Amazon Echo Spot
In 2017, Amazon released an interesting combination of the Dot and Show, called
the Echo Spot. The model had a round screen and was designed primarily to be an
alarm clock. Amazon quickly ditched this idea to focus on variants of the Echo Show
line.

18. Amazon Echo Flex
The Echo Flex was a tiny plug-in speaker released in 2019. Amazon designed the
unit to plug into an outlet and provide basic Alexa functionality. However, the tiny
speaker wasn’t good enough to provide serious audio and was eventually
discontinued.
Amazon Echo Input
In 2020, Amazon released this small device that’s not really an Echo at all. The
Input was basically hardware housing Alexa that could be physically connected to

19. another compatible speaker to give it some Alexa capabilities. The model is currently
discontinued.
Amazon Echo Look
The Amazon Echo Look was an odd little device that appeared on the scene in 2017.
Equipped with a camera but no display, the Look was designed to be a fashion
assistant. It had an LED array for lighting and could take pictures of you and your
clothing of choice. The Look could then make recommendations for clothes and
accessories. The idea did not take off, and the Look was discontinued.

20. Amazon Astro
While Echo isn’t in the name, this little Astro robot had most of the features found in
Echo devices, including Alexa capabilities, a smart display, and so on. It just happened
to move around as well. The bot was announced in 2021, and it uses intelligent motion
and can carry items, patrol a home, and offer all of Alexa’s features, including a video
camera for chatting. In 2022, Amazon announced an Astro update that allowed the bot
to serve as a guard for small businesses, added pet detection, and more.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969698919309452
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-amazon-echo/
https://www.wired.com/story/how-amazon-made-alexa-smarter/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/history-of-amazon-echo/