Apple Doesn’t Hear The Echo
Alexa is my music concierge of choice. I just tell her what to play and she does.
How did Apple squander first mover advantage? It was there earliest, with Siri, but I never use it, it’s too inaccurate, but Alexa gets it right almost all of the time.
That could be perception. But what is driving my Echo adoption is utility.
Voice-activation is the hottest thing in tech right now. It’s hiding in plain sight. But most people have not gotten the memo. But those with Echos are testifying. As for Google’s me-too product… Android put a huge dent in iOS, but Amazon is a better competitor. Because first and foremost all units are cheap. And the Echo is tied into Amazon’s sales paradigm. And Google’s product is blah, in a world where design counts, and Amazon has first mover advantage.
Echo is the dream we’ve been waiting for. The one we’ve given up hope on arriving. One wherein you talk to your computer, as opposed to typing in entries.
We’ve lived through the video revolution. All that news about Facebook focusing on the moving image?
This voice activation revolution is even bigger.
It’s not just a reduction of steps, it’s a change in conception.
Oftentimes I think of a song but don’t play it. Because to get to the computer and find my music program and type it in…
Takes too much time.
But to just think of a track and blurt out its name and hear it right away?
It’s utterly fascinating. Kinda like demonstrating Sonos nearly a decade ago. People couldn’t believe you could pull up any track and hear it instantly. They couldn’t wrap their heads around Rhapsody, never mind Spotify. And it’s only a matter of time before they wrap their head around Echo.
But Apple is out of the loop.
Supposedly you can tell Apple Music what to play via Siri. But even for the tracks I own I find Apple Music too complicated. It’s got interface issues. Funny how the company that pioneered easier user interfaces is blowing it here. I can figure it out, but my girlfriend couldn’t find shuffle within her playlists and there was just an update and today if you need a manual you don’t even bother.
But with the Echo, you just blurt out your choice.
Here’s the skinny. You make Spotify your default music service. So, you just say “Alexa, play ‘A Hard Day’s Night.'” and she does. Yup, just like that.
But you can’t do this with Apple Music. And the window keeps widening. People are becoming inured to their Echos and are not signing up for Apple Music. Because Apple Music is a walled garden. When will this change?
Apple has to admit it lost the war. It must open itself up to the Echo ecosystem, or be left behind.
But that’s not the Apple Way.
But the Apple Way used to be to create a dominant ecosystem that no one wanted to leave. Amazon couldn’t topple the iTunes Store. And now Apple is gonna get creamed.
As is Amazon. It was too late to the party with its own streaming music service. That horse has left the barn. It’s Apple and Spotify, and the latter is increasing its footprint at a faster rate.
You don’t fight the last battle, you start anew.
So, you’re gonna control your music via voice, you just don’t know it yet.
And the first mover here is Amazon.
But now you can make Spotify the default music service on Google Home too.
And where is Apple?
Nowhere to be found, on either device, never mind having a device of its own.
Meanwhile, Amazon has already sold five million Echos, talk about first mover advantage…
