And that, my fellow accuracy-obsessed armadillo, is where Amazon is getting it right. Rather than just rushing to replace Alexa with some new half-baked replacement, the company is actually waiting until it feels like it’s got the new system ready — with reliability, yes, but also with branding and a consistent-seeming user experience. (Anyone who’s been trying to navigate the comically complex web of Gemini and Assistant on Android — and beyond — can surely relate!)
Whether Amazon will keep up this pattern or eventually relent and go the “good enough” route remains to be seen. Sooner or later, investor pressure may force it to follow Google’s path and put its next-gen answer agent out there, even if it in all likelihood still isn’t ready by any reasonable standard.
For now, though, man: I can’t help but applaud the fact that the company’s taking its time instead of prematurely fumbling to the finish line like everyone else. And I can’t help but wish Google would have taken that same path, too, rather than doing its usual Google Thang™ and forcing some undercooked new concept into every last nook and cranny — no matter the consequences.
Maybe, hopefully, this’ll all settle out in some sensible way and turn into a positive in the future. For the moment, though, Google’s strategy sure seems like more of a minus than a plus for us, as users of its most important products — and especially in this arena, it sure seems like getting it right should mean more than getting it out into the world quickly, flaws and all and at any cost.
