Amazon’s Alexa Is Everywhere at CES 2017

I try not to obsess over every single announcement from CES, but it seems like “Alexa everywhere” is a common theme of this year’s event. Jacob Kastrenakes has a useful roundup of Alexa devices and integrations at The Verge – but there are also smartphones and cars launching support for Amazon’s assistant.

It feels like Amazon is taking the “Netflix approach” with Alexa – to be on as many devices as possible and gain mindshare through convenience and simple user interactions (like Netflix, primarily in English-speaking countries in the first couple of years). I wonder if we’re going to see a proper Alexa app for iOS this year to issue commands from an iPhone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something along the lines of Astra, only made by Amazon itself and integrated with most of the skills supported by the Echo speakers.