I never thought about it like this. Personally, I don't own a smart speaker because I just see the need but I'm old fashioned like that.
For Amazon and Google in particular, with 64.5 percent and 19.6 percent shares in the category, respectively, the point isn’t really to make money off selling hardware. The point is to beat the others at integrating their services into the lives of the population. In other words: You’re not gifting an Amazon Echo; you’re gifting a relationship with Alexa.
