Amazon's Alexa event was live today! During the event, the company unveiled Alexa Plus, which is the biggest upgrade ever for the popular digital assistant. The AI-powered assistant will be available for $19.99 or for free if you're an Amazon Prime member.
The updated assistant uses generative AI and reasoning to help complete tasks. Alexa Plus also remembers facts about you to cater to you specifically.
While the Alexa Plus news is exciting on its own, our readers may be more interested in who announced Alexa Plus rather than what Amazon announced at the event. On stage was Panos Panay. The former head of Microsoft Surface is now Amazon's head of Devices and Services.
Surface fans will recognize Panay and his enthusiasm on stage. He is known for caring about the products he works on and is rather effusive when presenting.
If you want to catch up on the event, make sure to head over to TechRadar's Amazon Alexa event live blog. Our colleagues at TechRadar also have a full breakdown of Alexa Plus.
Why did Panos Panay leave Microsoft?
Panay worked at Microsoft for over 19 years. He was instrumental in the development of Microsoft's Surface brand. He announced his departure from Microsoft in 2023, which came as a surprise in general and because it was just before a Surface event (which Panay did not attend).
In recent years, Microsoft has shifted away from experimental devices. Gone are the days of the Surface Studio, Surface Book, and Surface Duo. The tech giant is now focused on more commercially viable products, such as the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro lines of devices.
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Microsoft placing more experimental projects on the back burner and moving away from niche products was why Panay left Microsoft.
While it can be argued that the new Surface strategy is necessary, it is less exciting for consumers. I used to look forward to Surface events with anticipation and curiosity about which new form factors would be introduced or how a new Microsoft solution would solve a problem.
Don't get me wrong, the latest Surface devices are excellent. The Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 earned perfect scores in our reviews. They're just not as niche or experimental as previous Surface devices.
Alexa Plus vs ChatGPT
Amazon entered a crowded space by introducing an AI-powered assistant. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are just some of the tech giants with similar offerings. I'm curious to see how Alexa Plus does.
Performance will be a major factor in if people use Alexa Plus over competing tools, and we can't judge that yet since Alexa Plus will roll out in the United States over the next few weeks.
At this time, it's not known when Alexa Plus will be available for users outside the United States.
One thing we can judge right now is price. Alexa Plus will cost $19.99 per month, but I doubt that's the price that will matter for millions of people. Alexa Plus will come at no additional cost to Amazon Prime members.
There were over 200 million Amazon Prime members in October 2024, according to Statista. That's a large target audience that can use Alexa Plus for no extra cost.
$19.99 per month is in line with the cost of many other AI-powered assistants. But those who already have Prime will likely consider Alexa Plus to be "free."
We'll have to wait to see if Panay's newly announced Alexa Plus shines like Surface Pro or flops like Surface Duo.
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