Hardware is very expensive. Alexa dot is $14 on Amazon.com right now, i bet they are selling it at a loss for that price.
Think bigger picture. Imagine a panopticon spanning Ring.com camera networks and voice recordings telling you what's going on inside, with AI providing automated summaries of recent conversations. All delivered end-to-end by Amazon!
I’m more worried about smart phones acclimating people go carrying tracking and microphones. But, we find those tools indispensable now, so instead, we seem to want to focus on smart speakers
I find it hard to believe Amazon is spending more than $2 on payment and delivery.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Amazon-Echo-tear...