surveillance capitalism gone wild, amazon echo
this release from January puts the component cost of the echo dot (2nd generation) at about US$34.87
https://www.abiresearch.com/press/abi-research-amazon-echo-dot-teardown-voice-comman/
that doesn't include the cost of manufacturing, testing, packaging, etc.
this is also the model they are currently selling for US$29 if I am not mistaken.
wonder why they are willing to take a loss on every unit to get one in your house... 🤔
surveillance capitalism gone wild, amazon echo
@djsundog might not necessarily be about the putting microphones in your house thing
They're probably expecting a lot of people to use the "Oi, 'lexa, order me some bog roll" feature which would make them a fair bit of money
Or they made too many of them and are just trying to get shot of them
The surveillance aspect might just be an added bonus for them
Probably not, but it might
surveillance capitalism gone wild, amazon echo
@djsundog yeah, either way it's not nice to the customer
surveillance capitalism gone wild, amazon echo
@djsundog @troubleMoney but... that's just how capitalism works. You're the customer. The business wants to get the most they can out of you. It's right there on the tin. Nobody's pretending otherwise.
surveillance capitalism gone wild, amazon echo
@troubleMoney amazon is definitely a company tuned for thin margins and loss leaders as hooks. google is as well when it comes to their offerings since they can spend money forever without running out. but even that's a pretty slimy customer relationship experience, "how can we maximize how much this person spends with us". no matter their motivation, it's one flim-flam or another and makes me ick.