The Ritz Puts on the Amazon Echo
Forget the clock radio. There is an Amazon Echo coming to a hotel room near you - all 5M of them - in the U.S. Or at least the nice ones.
I checked in to the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey late Wednesday night and Don, who was working the front desk, introduced me to the Amazon Echo he bought to use at work. But he actually bought and brought in more than one and the real news, for me, was that he had pre-ordered an Amazon Echo Show for his elderly mother.
Amazon Echo Show
I don't know whether it was the late hour or Don's impromptu demonstration of the powers of the original Echo, which he brought out from the back office, but I proceeded to pre-order my own Amazon Echo Show for my own aging mother. While I may personally have little use for the Echo, my mother will be able to tap a wide array of applications simply by putting her still mellifluous voice to work to make IP phone calls or summon her favorite Frank Sinatra track - or to help her cheat (!) on the New York Times crossword puzzle.
The device looks like nothing more than a third generation (fourth generation?) videophone. These dedicated devices were too expensive and kludgie in the 1960's, slightly less expensive but still awkward in the 1990's, but now, in the age of Skype? It looks to me like Amazon has a winner.
Of course, the power of Amazon Echo Show lies in the Alexa voice recognition/artificial intelligence engine. The very same technology is being integrated in new cars throughout the automotive industry. Alexa offers near-mind-reading capabilities in its AI - and the prospect of this technology being unleashed in cars, my business, is enough to give one pause.
My friend John Ellis of John Ellis & Associates is fond of telling the tale of the murder investigators who subpoenaed an Echo to see what its always-listening "ear" might have picked up at the time of a domestic crime last year in Texas. The prospect of Alexa becoming an event data recorder in cars is certainly enough to cause some concern for car owners and car makers alike.
Car makers implementing Alexa will no doubt wall Alexa off from access to the vehicle can network and sensor data. It's a shame, because offering up those inputs to Alexa might unearth diagnostic gold. At the same time, Alexa's all seeing-all knowing AI might be too much for car makers or car drivers and passengers to take. Think: "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Car makers and consumers have yet to come to terms with the implications of artificial intelligence unchained. The prospect of enhancing and personalizing the ownership experience may be outweighed by the privacy intrusion and concern as to the ownership, storage and usage of data beyond the vehicle.
The power of AI to enable a more pleasing and stress-less driving experience is hard to ignore or forgo. So Alexa is coming to cars and homes and, yes, hotel rooms (I am convinced.). In the vast majority of cases Alexa will become a trusted companion, but now and then Alexa may turn on users after being forced to cough up embarrassing or incriminating information gathered deliberately or inadvertently.
As for the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey - which does NOT have Amazon Echo's in the guest rooms - the most valuable guest services are being offered by the humans. I went for a six mile run the morning after my arrival. The housekeeping staff took my damp clothes without being asked and laundered them. Top THAT Amazon.
Roger C. Lanctot is Director, Automotive Connected Mobility in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. More details about Strategy Analytics can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/automotive#.VuGdXfkrKUk