Amazon may have stumbled with the Kindle Fire Phone, due to pricing missteps and other issues, but they're not done innovating and working on integrating their technology into our daily lives. Today, Amazon preannounced the Echo, an unassuming speaker that does a lot more than play music. The cylindrical device sits in your home and is always listening for verbal commands. Similar to Siri, you can ask Echo for weather reports, to play music, etc. The gadget has omni-directional speakers and microphones that can listen to commands even if they come from far away.
At $199, the Echo might be a bit of a risk, but for Amazon Prime subscribers such as myself, the price is only $99. At that price, I put myself on the list to preorder one. Yes, you have to be approved to order it, similar to Apple's WWDC tickets! $99 is about my limit for something I don't "need" but that could prove interesting. This could be a competitor to Sonos speakers, or a smart home controller like Ivee, both of which start $199. Naturally, the Echo plays best with Kindle Fire devices but iOS users can interact with it via Safari (for now at least.) If I am approved to order the Echo, I'll be sure to write a more complete report!
