Jottings of note (smart speaker edition):
Waning?
An Amazon document leak reported by Bloomberg Insider purports to reveal that Amazon Alexa users discover half the features they will ever use within three hours of activating the smart speaker. Bloomberg says Alexa is “stalled” and user interest is “faded.” Amazon disputes, as one might expect. READ
Meanwhile…
A report from Strategy Analytics shows Apple increased its share of shipped smart-speaker units in Q3, from about two-million to four-million — 92% growth. Amazon sonctinues to lead in the marketplace, with the Google Nest line in second place. But Amazon’s share remained absolutely flat year-over-year. READ
Unifying the Brand
Finally, some Google house cleaning: The company has officially retired Google Home Mini, selling off old inventory via 50%-off sales at retail. The Google Nest Mini replaces it — a simple rebrasnd for the most part, and the small Nest device provides the same consumer proposition in footprint, features, and price as the now-retire Home Mini. READ