The Alexa artificial-intelligence software could generate $10 billion worth of business a year for Amazon, stemming from device sales and voice orders, according to analysts with RBC Capital Markets.
Amazon.com’s Alexa artificial-intelligence software could generate $10 billion worth of business a year for the company, stemming from device sales and voice orders from Amazon’s site.
Analysts with RBC Capital Markets tried to gauge Alexa’s financial impact. It’s a daunting endeavor given that it is the “very early days” for the software, the analysts wrote in a note distributed Friday.
Nevertheless, their projections show that by 2020 the sale of products that incorporate Alexa — the Echo line of devices, for example — could reach $5 billion a year.
Increased shopping on Amazon’s site via voice commands through Alexa could mean another $5 billion in the pocket for the e-commerce giant. Alexa could become 5 percent of Amazon’s business within three to five years, the RBC analysts estimated.
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There could be another revenue stream coming from the proliferation of “skills,” as Alexa apps are known. So far they’re free — but that could change. And another potential source of cash comes from more enterprises creating Alexa skills and then adopting Amazon’s cloud computing services, the machine that powers Alexa.