The year Amazon became even more difficult to avoid

For one, the company laid the foundation for expanding beyond its native Seattle. After years of development, this year's launch of Amazon Go, a grocery store / grocery store that allows customers to roll out of the street, take care of shelves and go straight back without missing a blow (or talking to another person for that matter).

Anti-social Seattleites have joined the Amazon Go Store for trouble-free groceries since January, and the company has since begun pushing the concept of surprising enthusiasm. Two more cash-free shops went in Seattle, and another two celebrated their big openings in San Francisco when Fall came. And before you assume that Amazon is just planning to bring these outposts to major tech hubs, Chicago ̵[ads1]1; the Crown Jewels in the Midwest – now have three Amazon Go stores launched within months of each other.

We're Watching Eight Amazon Go Releases In A Single Year – Do It If You Count The Additional Seattle Location That Is Not Open For audience. For a company that makes the vast majority of wealth from people who click around in browsers, the real world such as may seem almost amazing. And remember, Amazon is not yet finished: A Bloomberg September report claimed that Amazon is thinking of opening up to 3000 of these catch shops by 2021.

It's ] three thousand . To put this in perspective, Amazons 2017 took over the acquisition of Whole Foods Bezo's responsibility for a relatively poor 479 stores. The company has never officially commented on the report, but looks like this: When I write this, it is just under 8000 7-pupils in the United States. It's not hard to imagine convenience stores as a whole being completely screwed. If Amazon really wanted, it could rewrite the way this country is doing its shopping. Again.

And so is Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant / shoppingmaker / home DJ. When the original echo debuted in 2015, reviewers also seemed cautious and charmed by Amazons chatty interface. Since then, we have seen many Alexa-powered gadgets on the store shelves, but this year, Amazon has become a bit crazy and churned out a number of new physical Alexa avatars at the same time. You know, because two or three just would not be enough.

Some updates we looked at, like the updated Echo Plus and the updated Echo Dot: a rounder, friendlier look for what Amazon claims is "best-selling speaker ever." Other devices, like the echo input, were purely pragmatic responses to rivals like Google Chromecast Audio.

However, other products spoke with the expanded scope of Amazon's home invasion. The echo subset was a strange attempt to give Amazon-focused speaker systems a bit more bass, because listening to a new album through a cutesy cylinder was never so good. Echo Link promised to bring Alexa – along with high-quality audio – to existing amplifiers, while Amazon spells out how its full-blown 60W two-channel Echo Link amplifier will play in sound systems next year. And then it came really oddball things. Does anyone really need a wall clock that shows timers Alexa has set? Or for that matter, a cheap, otherwise rudimentary microwave oven like re-orders popcorn on command?

In a word: No. These unanswered goofy products have continued to reveal Amazons real wishes. Alexa is not just an assistant living on the kitchen dairy anymore; It is meant to be woven deep into the fabric of your home. Although Alexa only limits itself to a device, it becomes more valuable, as it worms into others.

Alexa is customer service and marketing, commerce and convenience, all in one fine voice.

Alexa March does not just stop at home either. Also announced in the fall, hardware event was an Alexa dongle that connects to your car stereo so that the assistant's calming voice can offer turn-by-turn directions. It's a nice little aftermarket solution to make cars a little smarter, but let's not forget that car manufacturers like Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, Audi and others have already promised to work with Alexa in the car's infotainment systems. And while Alexa does not like the same kind of seamless integration that Google Assistant has on Android phones, Amazon's Mobile Accessory kit (announced this year) makes it easier for product developers to push Alexa into their portable and Bluetooth headsets.

Hell, we begin to see Alexa integrate deeply with hotels : in June, Amazon announced a partnership with Marriott that would allow hotel-specific Alexa commands so visitors could ask for spa appointments or directions to the gym . Alexa is not stranger to hotels, for sure, but these types of tailored travel experiences are new to Amazon. More importantly, they serve two important purposes. First, they make it easier for customers who are used to Alexa to actually get things done, and secondly, they give people unfamiliar with Alexa a taste of what the assistant is capable of. It's customer service and marketing, commerce and convenience, all in one nice voice.