Amazon announced its first smartphone, the Amazon Fire, quite a ways back. It didn't do well. Heck, $83 million worth of these Fire phones just sitting in a factory somewhere, homeless. A better attempt to get into the homes of consumers was Amazon Fire TV, its very own Android-powered set-top box for streaming television and media; as well as a streaming stick, and of course, tablets. Now, Amazon is hoping to provide you with a Siri alternative, a wireless Bluetooth speaker called Echo that acts as a personal assistant.

Dubbed as a virtual-assistant-in-a-can, Amazon Echo is a thin, black, cylindrical speaker sold for $100 for Prime members, and $200 for “regular” people. Actually, before paying, you must sign up on a waiting list for Echo. Fancy! On top of Echo is a blue LED light that will glow when activated. Activation is queued by a code word of your choice. Once you boot Echo up, you can begin asking it to do a variety of things, like play music, search the web to answer a question, or create a shopping list for you. An accompanying mobile app works these commands with Echo, and any lists or information can be controlled on the app.

Because it works with Bluetooth, you'll be using your smartphone to stream music to the speaker. But, Amazon hopes you will be choosy with what you stream. According to Cnet, “Echo not only grows Amazon's line, it gives the company a chance to showcase its music offerings and keep consumers within its ecosystem”. Evidently, this is an excuse for the company to get you to buy, listen, and use Amazon's content. If you get hooked on it, you will develop a tendency to continue to purchase through Amazon, at least that's what they have found in the last year (Cnet).

What I don't get is the current limitations of Echo. Since, you can only purchase music (for now), how can Amazon possibly grab your wallets if you're just downloading songs? On the other hand, why would we really need to talk to a speaker to buy products anyway? Surely we'd be looking on our device to secure the decision/transaction. That kind of takes away the entire point of using Echo to buy Amazon stuff. But apparently, this is the way of the future. Forrester Research's James McQuivey said, future homes “will teem with tiny connected microphones tied to the cloud”. So there's that. Back to the drawing board, Echo is a speaker that doubles as a “Siri”, and consumers will find some fun in that. Especially consumers who rely on Amazon for their streaming TV, media, Prime Fresh grocery delivery service, and everything else it has to offer.