Amazon.com Inc. has decided to no longer pay developers to create apps for Alexa.
The mentioned service of the e-commerce giant, whose scope of activity also extends to the technology sector, is one of the main efforts within the framework of ensuring the functioning of an online store of digital products for its voice-activated digital assistant.
Amazon informed the participants of the Alexa Developer Rewards program that payments will end in June. A message posted on the website of the company, which also owns the best American delivery service, notes that developers have played and will play a crucial role in the success of Alexa.
The firm is also stopping a program under which the specified developers could receive free credits to power their programs with Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is worth noting that after canceling payments, it will be still possible to monetize efforts by making purchases in the app. In this case, it means a solution designed for developers.
Alexa, which powers Echo smart speakers and other devices, has made a significant contribution to the popularization of voice assistants, debuting almost a decade ago. Such products allow users to view weather forecasts, and news, play games, and perform many other actions as part of their interaction with the digital development.
For almost a decade, Amazon has sold several million Alexa-powered gadgets. At the same time, this technology does not yet correspond to the concept of perfection and flawless functioning. Alexa is also inferior in terms of capabilities to chatbots based on artificial intelligence, whose popularity is currently growing exponentially.
Amazon, based in Seattle, is now working to expand the functionality of machine intelligence in its software. The company invited developers to create their own apps called Skills. In 2017, Amazon began paying those developers who met certain usage requirements and other thresholds.
Alexa was actively used. But in this case, there is that notorious nuance that significantly clarifies the fact. Active usage was observed among developers. Applying Alexa by large companies in the seeking for new ways of advertising was limited to experiments, which eventually did not transform into a standard large-scale practice. The experience of using this service indicates that consumers interacted with the voice assistant exclusively to solve simple tasks, including, for example, music playing. Smartphones, in terms of functionality, have such competitive advantages compared to Alexa as high speed of operation and better quality. Searching for apps using voice commands still belongs to the category of difficult tasks.
The media, citing an anonymous insider, reported that Amazon began reducing the amount of money available for direct payments in 2020, which coincided with directives to cut Alexa’s losses and find new sources of income. Apps created by developers who receive payment from the company, in most cases, did not show significant results in terms of product monetization.
