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There's something to be said for today's business model that much of big tech uses: "First we build it, then we get customers who love it, then we try to figure out how to monetize it- and kill it if we don't".

Google is, of course, the king of this model, but it feels as though the entire industry fully embraces it. I'm waiting for the day my Alexa shuts itself off forever because I still don't see how it makes a dime.



This is essentially Cory Doctorow's "Enshittification": <https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys>, briefly discussed here at <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34480479>


Amazon is definitely making money on these subscriptions. IMHO, they simply want to make even more money by pushing everyone onto "Unlimited". Maybe more like "how to super-monetize it".


I read somewhere that it's a huge money loser for Amazon. Alexa being such a big part of Amazon's identity, could they shut it down without losing face though?


When you can't find the source of revenue then that generally means you are the source of revenue.




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