Absent an Apple Siri alternative, Alexa hardware family tops Amazon holiday sales charts

Amazon has declared the holiday 2016 shopping season as "the best-ever season" for its voice-driven personal assistant Alexa, despite having problems keeping the sought-after devices in stock.

In a press release heralding Amazon's holiday performance, the company notes that the Amazon Echo family of devices — including the Echo Dot, Echo Tap, Fire TV Stick, Fire Tablet, and Amazon Echo — grew more than 9 times versus the 2015 holiday season.

Apple has no stand-alone speaker device like the Alexa-powered Dot, Echo, or Tap. Apple's Siri is included in the iPhone, and iPad, with a more limited implementation in the Apple TV Siri remote.

Amazon continues to refuse to sell the fourth-generation Apple TV, instead, offering up a mount for the device as a first choice, and the Amazon Fire TV as a "Best Seller" in its place.

Highlights pointed out for the sales period by Amazon include more than 72 percent of Amazon customers worldwide shopped with a mobile device, with a growth of 56 percent in Amazon's mobile app alone.

Amazon very rarely divulges specific numbers of devices sold, only calling it "millions," and has only referred to them in proportion to the previous year.

Other vague statistics about sales this holiday season from Amazon include enough 4K televisions were sold to reach the peak of Mount Everest more than 9 times, and sufficient Sphero Star Wars BB-8 App-Controlled Robots were sold to roll as a relay around the Earth more than two times before the batteries collectively run out.

Apple-compatible devices and accessories leading Amazon sales charts were declared to be the 6-foot AmazonBasics Certified Lightning to USB Cable in the Wireless category, the AmazonBasics Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt) to HDMI Adapter in the PC section, the Blue Yeti USB Microphone in Musical Instruments, and the GoPro Hero5 camera.

AppleInsider noted on Monday that Amazon Alexa was one of the top trending searches on the App Store after Christmas, suggesting customers were looking to connect to a new Echo accessory gifted for the holidays. The Amazon Alexa app continued to rank as the sixth most popular free download on the App Store as of Tuesday afternoon.

Other potential hits this holiday season, based on App Store trends following Christmas, included Fitbit fitness tracking accessories, low-priced camera drones, GoPros, Google Cardboard virtual reality, and the Furbo Dog Camera, a treat-tossing Wi-Fi camera with two-way audio.

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79 Comments

freeper 77 comments · 8 Years

About 7 years ago

As Amazon refuses to sell Apple TV (or Chromecast) products that compete with the awful Fire TV, I am not certain that an Alexa competitor by Apple would have been sold by Amazon either.

zroger73 787 comments · 13 Years

Although I'd rather have an Apple-branded competitor, I'm very pleased with the three Echos I've purchased and use them all multiple times each day for various tasks. One somewhat silly difference is that I find Alexa's voice clearer and more pleasant than Siri's.

altivec88 135 comments · 11 Years

freeper said:

As Amazon refuses to sell Apple TV (or Chromecast) products that compete with the awful Fire TV, I am not certain that an Alexa competitor by Apple would have been sold by Amazon either.

I agree... But some of those that wanted a home type of device like this that would have chose Apple are now in the Amazon Eco system. Lets face it, Apple is the new Microsoft. Big Goliath thats slow to react to anything. They just can't walk and chew gum anymore. They can only update the iPhones yearly, the rest of their lineup is either a nuisance and gets cancelled or just a hobby that gets updates every 3 to 4 years. Meanwhile Tim has been talking about amazing pipelines while other companies are selling actual products. I remember a time when the opposite was true (ahh the good old days)

StrangeDays 12959 comments · 8 Years

zroger73 said:

Although I'd rather have an Apple-branded competitor, I'm very pleased with the three Echos I've purchased and use them all multiple times each day for various tasks. One somewhat silly difference is that I find Alexa's voice clearer and more pleasant than Siri's.

I've been trying to find out -- what sort of tasks do you do w/ your three Alexa devices?

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

zroger73 said:

Although I'd rather have an Apple-branded competitor, I'm very pleased with the three Echos I've purchased and use them all multiple times each day for various tasks. One somewhat silly difference is that I find Alexa's voice clearer and more pleasant than Siri's.

1) I can't see a need for three of them, but I am planning on getting a Dot as my bedroom clock/alarm. No lights, just voice activated, which I hope helps creates a better sleeping environment. The alarm with Alexa is interesting. It's effective, but it's not jarring so it creeps into you in what I can only describe as ethereal yet overpowering, which I've only remembered during REM sleep.

2) Maybe it's the much better speakers and mics in the Echo, but Alexa sounds great and listens very well. I love that the app and website list all the commands you've made and lets you rate them for accuracy. If Siri had that option maybe Apple could get it to understand the user a little better. Plus, Alexa responds so quickly to a command that it's remarkable that it's have to query an internet server. I hate that with "Hey, Siri" you have pause before making your request or it'll miss the first couple seconds. Amazon really make a great product with the Amazon Echo and the Alexa service.