Amazon Soon To Offer Free Parrot With Every Alexa

Well, OK, this might not be what Amazon is doing, might not be what Amazon will do but there’s certainly a case to be made that this is what Amazon should do – hand out a free parrot with every Alexa. For, as we know, Parrots like to repeat the sounds they hear – no, we don’t think that they’ve the brain to know what they’re saying, they’re mimics, no more. So, we order things from Amazon by talking to Alexa. The parrot, sat in the same room as that Alexa, will hear this and repeat it. Thus more orders from Amazon via Alexa – a great business strategy, no?

And yes, this does actually work:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] A mischievous parrot was caught ordering strawberries, watermelons and ice-cream after ‘falling in love’ with Amazon’s voice-activated device Alexa. Rocco, a homeless African grey, keeps using the personal assistant to order his favourite treats, as well kites and light bulbs, and likes to set the mood by playing romantic music. [/perfectpullquote]

How sweet, eh?

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] But Ms Wischnewski, a junior animal care leader, realised that he had also persuaded Alexa to order him a bizarre array of goods. She said: “I have to check the shopping list when I come in from work and cancel all the items he’s ordered. “So far I’ve had to remove a light bulb, some berries, a kite, ice-cream, strawberries, a water melon, raisins and some broccoli.” [/perfectpullquote]

Well, there’s a flaw in the plan, that people check such lists:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Sometimes she sees that Rocco has interacted with Alexa 30-40 times in a day. Thanks to a parental lock on the system, none of the items was purchased.[/perfectpullquote]

So, ship Alexa without the parental lock enabled and with a parrot. Enough people won’t stick the restriction on that a decent profit will be made and Jeff Bezos will be able to move onto buying another country with the increased wealth.

Again, no, Amazon probably won’t be doing this but perhaps they should.