Amazon goes cuckoo

Alexa cuckoo clock. © Amazon.

Amazon is going into the cuckoo clock business. Not a Swiss chalet-style clock, but rather a sleek, modern timepiece that, naturally, comes with Alexa. This unusual offering is the result of Amazon’s new programme, called Build It. The idea is simple: Amazon suggests a product idea and if enough people preorder it, Amazon builds it. The cuckoo clock is one of three proposed items, the other two being a thermal sticky note printer and a smart scale. At the time of writing, the cuckoo page showed that 45% of the preorder target had been met. Unfortunately, Amazon does not provide absolute figures, so we don’t know how many people have so far been tempted by this USD80 timepiece. Just so you know, if you’ve always wanted a cuckoo clock, they’re all over Amazon. No, they don’t have Alexa, but who needs it? After all, the two things we expect from a cuckoo clock is to give the time and cuckoo annoyingly every hour, on the hour.

⇨ The Verge, Dieter Bohn, “Amazon won’t build this Alexa cuckoo clock unless it hits a preorder goal.”

2021-02-18