Probably has something to do with being on the market first, but developing a skill is a much better experience than it is with Google (imo). I think that's a big reason why.
I've developed a number of skills for some big companies, and I'm fighting Amazon right now about getting my open source one published (https://github.com/m0ngr31/kodi-alexa)
I am concerned about the IAM policy you're choosing - Administrator access should basically never be given out or used. I would highly recommend figuring out what your actual dependencies are and restricting the policy to just what's necessary.
If Amazon won't approve my skill (they have an issue with Kodi after the fire tv stick debacle), I have a hosted version that won't require setup like there is currently, so it's just a temporary solution.
I've switched over to Plex for most everything, but if I end up going back to Kodi I'll definitely be setting this up. Thanks for writing it.
(full disclosure: I work on Alexa, but not on the team that handles skills)
I've responded and asked to have the issue escalated and posted on the dev forums, but the support is pretty sad, despite the otherwise good documentation and developer experience on the platform.
That's hilarious because Amazon is probably the biggest seller of Kodi boxes in Canada.
My wife clicks a photo on her iphone and without touching an additional button walks into our family room later and will ask for fine details in photos and the TV turns itself in, input sets and the photo in 4k appears.
We also have a 4k Chromecast and this is just not possible with the Echo.
But the cool part setting it up was just buy, plug in and log in and that is it. Wife already used Google photos on her iPhone.
We started with the Echo but now have switched to Google Homes and unless going to do a lot of shopping on Amazon can not see any reason to get an Echo over the Google home any longer.
One question: Which sections in the kodi.cfg are necessary? I already have Kodi configured and don't want to just replace the file, or spend time changing options your skill doesn't need.
Having to open a skill like an app before asking what I want Alexa to do feels completely wrong. It leads to me basically never using any third party skills.
If I wanted to open apps I’d use my phone. I want something more natural.