SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ:AMZN)—One year ago, Amazon opened Alexa to developers, making it simple and free for them to build Alexa skills and integrate Alexa into their own products. Today, tens of thousands of developers are building skills for Alexa, and there are over 1,400 new skills for Alexa—including Lyft and Honeywell, which were added today.
As the selection of skills continues to grow, Amazon is introducing new, simple ways to discover and enable Alexa skills. The skills section of the Alexa app is now completely redesigned. Starting today, customers can browse Alexa skills by categories such as “Smart Home” and “Lifestyle” in the Alexa app, apply additional search filters, and access their previously enabled skills via the “Your Skills” section. Also available today, Alexa customers can use their voice to enable skills: simply say “Alexa, enable NBC News” or “Alexa, enable 7 minute workout” and access them instantly.
“We are thrilled that tens of thousands of developers are already building skills for Alexa, helping to grow our Alexa skill selection by 50% in just over a month. And today, we’re excited to introduce new features that make it even easier for customers to discover those skills,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. “This is a win for developers and for customers, and we can’t wait to hear what they think.”
Some fun facts about the Alexa Skills Kit, Alexa Voice Service, and Alexa Fund include:
- Since January 2016, selection of Alexa smart home API skills has grown by more than 5x
- Amazon now has over 1,400 Alexa skills—growing the catalog by 50% in just over one month
- Customers have made over 3 million requests using the top 10 most popular Alexa skills
- There are now over 10,000 registered developers using the Alexa Voice Service to integrate Alexa into their products
- There are tens of thousands of 3rd party developers currently working on Alexa projects
- The Alexa Fund has invested in 16 startups, with a focus on smart home and wearable products to date. Over the next year, The Alexa Fund will be expanding investments into startups that focus on robotics, developer tools, healthcare, accessibility and more
- Some of the most popular Alexa skills are Jeopardy!, Daily Affirmation, Magic 8 Ball, Fitbit, and The Bartender
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.
