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Speaker 1: As I mentioned, and Amazon and bailing new gadgets today

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Speaker 1: at an event in Seattle, just wrapping out about fifteen

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Speaker 1: twenty minutes ago. Brett Stone, head of Global Technology covered

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Speaker 1: heer up Bloomberg News, joining us on the phone from

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Speaker 1: San Francisco. So, Brad, I was, I was just kind

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Speaker 1: of running down for our audience a little bit of

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Speaker 1: what we got. But tell me some of the highlights.

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Speaker 1: What you think also is significant that we got from

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Speaker 1: Amazon today, Carol, Well, we'll take a step back and

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Speaker 1: just observe that Amazon has been on a journey for

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Speaker 1: the past five years to create a platform for itself

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Speaker 1: for services and devices akin to an Apple has at

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Speaker 1: the iPhone, what Google has with Android, and the first

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Speaker 1: couple of years of that effort, we're sort of marked

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Speaker 1: by failure right there, at least modest success, Like the

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Speaker 1: Kindle was great but just for reading, and the the

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Speaker 1: Android tablets and the Android phone really never worked. Now

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Speaker 1: with the Echo and and the Alexa voice kind of service,

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Speaker 1: Amazon has a hit, right. They have a you know,

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Speaker 1: a way for people to control you know, to to

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Speaker 1: talk to their computers to get information to control the

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Speaker 1: smart home. And what we saw today was Amazon just

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Speaker 1: bet big on the Echo and Alexa as a platform

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Speaker 1: and to create lots of different hardware, kinds of hardware

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Speaker 1: to access Alexa. So you've got a cheaper just Echo

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Speaker 1: which it comes in different colors, better sound. You've got

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Speaker 1: a premium Echo hundred and fifty dollars UM that controls

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Speaker 1: devices in your home. Um, you've got us thirty Echo Connect,

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Speaker 1: which is supposed to bring voice control to your landline telephone.

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Speaker 1: But then maybe the surprise this thing called the Echo Spot,

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Speaker 1: which is a it looks like the Echo Dot, it's

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Speaker 1: it's round, It costs a hundred thirty dollars, but as

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Speaker 1: a video screen and so kind of another application of

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Speaker 1: video chat, of creating intercom within your home playing games. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then they're also kind of syndicating Alexa. They said

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Speaker 1: they's gonna be in PMWS and the Big News, which

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Speaker 1: everyone on Twitter is laughing about. They're gonna put Alexa

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Speaker 1: in the the the wall mounted fish. You know, uh

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Speaker 1: Billy big mouth bath. Are you talking about the HBO

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Speaker 1: Sopranos fish? Exactly? Oh my god, I love that talk

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Speaker 1: to that thing. So a little joke exactly, but it's

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Speaker 1: example of like they want to put Alexa everywhere I

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Speaker 1: think what's interesting and Bran, I love talking about you

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Speaker 1: and everybody. If you haven't read Brad's book That Everything

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Speaker 1: Stored Jeff Bezos in the Age of Amazon, you should

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Speaker 1: because you know so much about this company. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I feel like they've reacted so quickly to the success

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Speaker 1: of Alexa that they were really smart. They weren't slow.

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Speaker 1: They're seizing on the popularity of it. Well, you know

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Speaker 1: to what I said before, like they've been waiting for

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Speaker 1: this moment and they almost stumbled upon it, like it

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Speaker 1: wasn't two years ago. They announced the Echo with very

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Speaker 1: little fanfare. They did not hold an event like the

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Speaker 1: one they held today in Seattle. They just put the

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Speaker 1: Echo on the on the website sort of modestly. And

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Speaker 1: you know, they haven't they haven't released how many that

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Speaker 1: they sold, but it's definitely in the millions. Analyst think

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Speaker 1: it's a hit. Um, you know, and you see like

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Speaker 1: Apple announcing home Pod. Uh, you know, it's only going

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Speaker 1: to be announced, it's only gonna be for sale and December.

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Speaker 1: It costs. It's the sound is probably better than what

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get in the Echo Plus. But you know,

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Speaker 1: to your point. Amazon just moves quickly and they sold

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Speaker 1: things that probably at a loss or at least at

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Speaker 1: cost and make it up with a prime membership. Hey, Brad,

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Speaker 1: it sounded like to that there's a couple of different

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Speaker 1: price points, And tell me if that's that's correct In

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Speaker 1: terms of how they're you know, kind of rolling out

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Speaker 1: some of this new Echo stuff, uh and Alexa stuff.

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Speaker 1: I mean, are they kind of doing that to make

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Speaker 1: it much more accessible, um to more consumers? Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean I think that they do risk a little bit

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Speaker 1: of confusion, Like my head was spinning today and all

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Speaker 1: the devices, but you know, you've got you know, you've

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Speaker 1: got a thirty five Echo Connect which just kind of

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Speaker 1: turns your landline phone into an Alexa U brings voice

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Speaker 1: control of your landline. And then you know, and then

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Speaker 1: three different price points for different echoes, um for a

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Speaker 1: smaller echo with better sound, but a hundred fifty dollars

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Speaker 1: for an Echo plus it's supposedly will do a better

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Speaker 1: job controlling all the all the appliances in your in

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Speaker 1: your home, but of course those appliances have to have

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Speaker 1: have WiFi connection. And then this video enabled uh, this

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Speaker 1: video and enabled Echo Spot which by the way. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's like the echo dots and and the echo shows

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Speaker 1: and the you know, like which is this whole other

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Speaker 1: line which is going to bring video and uh you

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Speaker 1: know and video calling. It's like an Apple watch with

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Speaker 1: a video camera that does doesn't go on your risk,

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Speaker 1: it might sit on your night table and be you know,

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Speaker 1: be be your alarm. So lots of stuff. And yes,

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Speaker 1: they always want to win on price. We don't know

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Speaker 1: yet though, how important this product is. I mean it's

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Speaker 1: really early. I'm assuming in terms of revenue it's not

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Speaker 1: a big dealer. Or do we have any idea, Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think probably. Um, these things don't make

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Speaker 1: a lot of money because Amazon tense to sell them

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Speaker 1: at a cost. But you remember, like they come with

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Speaker 1: prime membership. They make it. They take all the friction

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Speaker 1: out of buying, um, you know, and and Prime members

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Speaker 1: spent two or three times the same amount in the

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Speaker 1: next year. In Amazon, being a long term oriented company,

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Speaker 1: you know, thinks about all this stuff is as you know,

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Speaker 1: paying off in in years, you know, in terms of

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Speaker 1: lifelong customers. So uh, it's significant. It's Amazon achieving platform

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Speaker 1: level status, uh, you know, akin to what Google and

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Speaker 1: Apple have been able to achieve. So it's you know,

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Speaker 1: put some in a very powerful position. And then the

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Speaker 1: extent that they can get Alexa into cars. You know,

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Speaker 1: they announced the integration with BMW. That's that's big. It's

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Speaker 1: my husband's nightmare that I can just sit there and

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Speaker 1: say could you buy this? Could you buy that? But

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Speaker 1: it is about just getting people to buy more stuff. No, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think that that's one avenue. Um. And

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Speaker 1: of course it's something that Amazon is always thinking about.

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Speaker 1: But no, I mean I think it's it's beyond that.

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Speaker 1: I think it's the search for a platform is really

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Speaker 1: about allowing people to control their digital lives via you know,

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Speaker 1: via Amazon tools. You know the risk and it's a

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Speaker 1: important strategic position. The risk that Amazon always had is

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Speaker 1: that with people living on a you know and accessing

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Speaker 1: the Internet via an iPhone or an Android phone, that

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Speaker 1: Amazon will one day be at a serious disadvantage. You know,

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Speaker 1: they people will have to go through a gatekeeper get

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Speaker 1: the Amazon. But now no longer, right, they can go

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Speaker 1: through Alexa. Unbelievable. Um. Great to get your thoughts always

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Speaker 1: and your inside breadstone head of global technology coverage for

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Speaker 1: US here at Bloomberg News. He is also author of

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Speaker 1: The Everything Store Jeff Bezos in the Age of Amazon,

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Speaker 1: joining us on the phone from San Francisco,