Amazon has announced Alexa for Residential, focused on landlords and property managers to add Alexa to rental units to enable smart apartments. The platform allows interactions with no account or device setup, and then the ability to link to an account to access the rest of Alexa’s features. From The Verge:
Amazon says property managers don’t have access to any tenant data, and voice recordings are automatically deleted daily. If a tenant links their own account, their preferred privacy settings will apply. They can unlink their accounts any time, and the in-unit devices can be reset along with any other smart devices in the apartment when the tenant moves out.
This feels like a component in the whole “smart cities” or “smart buildings” discussion, and as long time listeners know, I’m bullish on voice, even though I recognize we have a ways to go.
It’s a specific set of use cases for sure, but is one more step. Alexa for Business focuses on shared spaces in offices, and here shared resources at home – those spaces that aren’t fully owned or private.
Amazon has a problem with their lack of a phone for getting their services into your hands continually – their solution is voice in as many places around you as they can. Remember that as you think about why they move Alexa into all these places, and then you can consider how to leverage that for a service offering.
Source: The Verge