Amazon touts Alexa+ AI features, new devices

AI Integration & Product Updates - Amazon is updating its Echo, Ring, Fire TV, and Alexa with generative AI assistant Alexa Plus [1] - The upgraded Alexa Plus assistant is showing signs of gaining traction in AI-powered commerce, with customers shopping more [2] - All new Echo devices will have Alexa Plus, aiming to fix the limited adoption caused by the earlier limited release model [3] Market Performance & Adoption - Smart home adoption rate with Alexa Plus has doubled [3] - Amazon shares are down year-to-date, making it the worst performer of the Mag 7, and the unveiling didn't significantly change market sentiment [4] - Alexa devices out there are at 600 million, contrasting with the single millions adoption range of Alexa Plus due to its rollout strategy [6] Competitive Landscape - Critics argue that Amazon's Alexa upgrades lag behind OpenAI, Google, and Meta [4] - OpenAI and Google are also rolling out new shopping tools this week, seen as an easy first step toward AI monetization [2] Sales Strategy - The new devices are going on sale today, coinciding with the Prime strategy [5] - The Alexa Plus subscription model is integrated into Prime, which is key to the new products' adoption [6]