Amazon’s secret war on Android: The company has a plan to cure Alexa’s addiction to Google’s operating system.
By Eugene Kim | 2024-03-06
Amazon is making moves to unify Alexa’s backend technology, aiming to reduce operational costs and improve device performance. This initiative, known as “Unified Alexa Device Software,” will see some devices moving away from the Android-based operating system that Amazon has been using for years.
The project is expected to save almost 50% of overhead costs once completed, leading to a faster rollout of Alexa features and an enhanced customer experience. This effort is part of a larger revamp of the Alexa business following significant losses.
Additionally, Amazon plans to utilize a new homegrown operating system named Vega for voice assistants, smart TVs, and wearable devices, while some hardware devices will continue to use Fire OS and modified versions of it.
The goal of these changes is to eliminate gaps in software offerings, reduce tech debt, and ensure feature parity among different devices. Amazon hopes this initiative will lead to quicker feature rollouts, fewer performance issues, and lower development costs.
While these changes are significant, Amazon clarified that they are part of a regular review process to continuously improve Alexa for customers. Wall Street has praised Amazon’s efficiency drive under CEO Andy Jassy, with the company’s stock up 85% in the past year.
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