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Amazon Wants Alexa to Take Control of Your Smart Home

Amazon.com—having conquered online retail and cloud computing—has set its sights on another audacious goal, ripped from the pages of science fiction: an automated, voice-controlled world.

In the past year, Amazon has made it possible to dim the bedroom lights, summon Uber rides, play song lists, check bank balances and, yes, order merchandise simply by speaking. Alexa—a robotic voice assistant—is the power behind Amazon’s quirky, cylindric speaker called Echo.

The Seattle retailer is pushing Alexa into the hands of startups, even funding some along the way, while also forging partnerships with companies. By speaking to the Echo, customers with thermostats from startup Ecobee Inc. can turn down the heat down without leaving the couch. Last month, startup Invoxia SAS released a portable speaker it says is the first to directly integrate Alexa. More is on the way, including Ford Motor Co.’s plans to let drivers of some coming vehicles use Alexa to open the garage or start the engine.

The groundswell of support from developers for Alexa is giving Amazon a powerful weapon against Apple Inc.’s Siri, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Now and Microsoft Corp.’s Cortana. Google is working on a voice-activated device of its own, according to people familiar with the matter, and news reports indicate it could release it in the coming months.

Alexa is still a work in progress. The software doesn’t always understand prompts, and, for now, most devices using it must be tethered to Echo. Some users have also expressed concern that Alexa is always listening for its name, though Amazon says Echo only listens when prompted by the wake-up word, Alexa.

“Voice is just so natural, it’s much quicker than typing,” said Howard Morgan, a partner at venture firm First Round Capital, whose investments include Uber Technologies Inc. and food-delivery startup BlueApron Inc. “We’re encouraging our portfolio companies to consider using Alexa; simply, it removes one barrier to getting people to use your service.”

Released in late 2014, the Echo, with a price tag of $180, can pick up voices from across a room and respond to queries like traffic reports or trivia in less than two seconds.

Amazon’s engineers were spurred by Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s vision of a living room that was equipped with a device like the spaceship computer on his favorite “Star Trek,” according to people familiar with the matter. That conversational computer helped control the ship’s critical functions and answered complicated questions.

Amazon secretly developed Echo for roughly four years. Engineers used technology acquired from startups like text-to-speech system Ivona but made much of the device in-house including microphones that can discern voices from 10 or more feet away.

After Echo launched, Amazon executives were surprised by the immediate demand from software developers, said David Limp, senior vice president of devices. Amazon initially limited its release, and many critics and consumers were unsure of its purpose.

But as Amazon added more services to Echo like music-streaming site Pandora and Domino’s Pizza, the device gained steam. While Amazon doesn’t release sales figures for the Echo, research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates Amazon has sold about 3 million units. Amazon recently doubled down by offering less expensive versions including the hockey puck-shaped $90 Echo Dot meant to be placed around the house.

Amazon’s Lab126 hardware unit is working on an Alexa-powered device featuring a tablet-like computer screen known internally as “Knight,” designed so that users can summon Web pages, videos or images when, say, their hands are covered in flour.

But Amazon is thinking beyond its own devices, and is unleashing Alexa the way Google gives away its Android mobile software to install in phones and spawn countless apps and services.

“We believe the next inflection point in terms of user interface is voice,” Mr. Limp said.

He declined to say how Amazon plans to make money directly from Alexa. Alexa does simplify ordering from Amazon.com, and prompts customers to sign up for the $99 Prime unlimited shipping membership. And presumably, Amazon could charge companies to be the preferred provider for certain answers, like the weather, sports scores or recipes.

Amazon also stands to profit if any of the startups it is funding succeed. The company’s $100 million Alexa Fund has invested in companies like home-security firm Scout Security Inc. and wireless doorbell maker Bot Home Automation Inc.

Scout began offering voice functionality for its home-monitoring devices last summer so customers with an Echo device can tell the alarm to turn off or ask if a window is open.

“Voice wasn’t top of mind when we launched,” said CEO Dan Roberts of the two-year-old Chicago company. “But when you use it, it just makes sense.”

Bot Home aims to integrate voice services directly into its Ring video doorbell, which allows users to monitor their homes and speak with visitors, said CEO Jamie Siminoff.Other startups using the service include Wi-Fi router company Luma Home Inc. and Web-connected plush doll maker ToyMail Co.

“Someday in the future—that might be years or decades away—it could answer everything that you would ever ask it,” Mr. Limp said.

Jeff Blankenburg, of Westerville, Ohio, says he relies on his Echo speaker to open his garage door, track his car and turn on or off lights around his house.

“I could walk over and turn on my lamp, but it’s way cooler to ask it to do it,” said the 39-year-old software developer.

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