Chapter 9. What Would Alexa Do?

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Every once in awhile, a product comes along that changes everyone’s expectations of what’s possible in user interfaces. The Mac. The World Wide Web. The iPhone. Alexa belongs in that elite group of game changers. Siri didn’t make it over the hump, despite the buzz it created. Neither did Google Now or Cortana, despite their amazing capabilities and their progress in adoption. (Mary Meeker reports that 20% of Google searches on mobile are now done by voice, and Google Now cards are an essential part of every Android user’s experience.) But Alexa has done so many things right that everyone else has missed that it is, to my mind, the first winning product of the conversational era.

Let me talk you through a sample conversation to show you what I mean.

I’m standing in the kitchen cooking, hands dirty. “Alexa, play ‘Hamilton’.” (Yes, like everyone else who’s seen it, or even heard it once, I’m addicted!) “Playing songs from the original cast recording of ‘Hamilton’…” “Alexa, louder.” “Alexa, set a timer for 30 minutes.” [Music volume goes way down but is still audible while Alexa replies.] “Setting a timer for 30 minutes.” [Volume comes back up]…"Alexa, what song is that?” [Again, volume goes down while Alexa replies, then returns to previous volume.] “’Guns and Ships,’ by Leslie Odom, Jr., Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson, Original ...

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