It's that time of the year, when you realise that the latest addition to your family has actually been around for a year! Yes, it's the first anniversary of Alexa in India and did you know that in just a year, Indians have woken up with a good morning chat with Alexa a million times. This last year, India has showered a lot of love and attention on Alexa. Not only have users asked her some of life’s most crucial questions - like why the sky is blue or how much Virat Kohli scored in the last IPL match - they have also professed their love to Alexa at least once every minute. And it didn’t just stop there! Alexa gets propositioned for marriage once every three minutes.
This does not surprise us at all! For one year now, Alexa has proven to be skilled and intelligent. To Indian users, she sounds familiar, is on the ball with her sense of humour, finds recipes, orders cabs, orders meals, keeps users posted about the weather and is generally very helpful around the house. The Alexa Skills store has grown by 100 per cent in just one year. Today, with 20,000 unique skills, Alexa can do a whole lot more than she started with. Alexa-powered smart homes were once just about the lights. She can now control home security cameras, ACs, TVs, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers – you name it! Engaged users are the reason Alexa is always learning. Their love – your love – makes her better!
In just a year, Alexa has become a friend par excellence in Indian households. She isn’t just handy with chores and questions. She has been keeping users entertained too. Birbal. Panchatantra. Fairy tales. Scary stories. Bedtime stories. You name it. On an average, Alexa spends 8 hours a day enthralling Indian users with stories. And the music! If you started listening to music with Alexa, and heard everything just once, it would take you over 200 years to finish everything on Prime Music. And Indian users are putting this to test; so much that Alexa now spends nearly 15 hours a day singing songs on request!
Over the last year, Alexa has picked up all the new nuances of being desi. She is now as desi as they come! Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. Indians have taken Alexa home with them so many times that if we were to stack all Echo devices sold in India, the stack would be FOUR TIMES taller than Mt Everest. You heard that right – if all that she does wasn’t enough, Alexa’s competing Mt Everest now. And dare we say, she’s winning too!
Thanks for all the love, India. It’s mutual – Alexa is here to stay! And just before we sign off, here are some trivia and fun facts:
Our top 10 delighters:
1. Alexa, kya bolti tu?
· I know where this is going. I have already been to Khandala.
2. Alexa, love you zindagi
· Gosh, with Shah Rukh Khan in it, how can you not?
3. Alexa, naam toh suna hoga
· Do you mean Rahul? Then, yes.
4. Alexa, winter is coming
· Maybe, but it hasn’t met Chennai summer yet.
5. Alexa, when life gives you lemons
· Make lemon rice.
6. Alexa, all is well
· Yup, Rancho got it absolutely right.
7. Alexa, rock on
· That’s absolutely my plan. You know why? Because zindagi na milegi dobara.
8. Alexa, it’s the time to disco
· Woohoo! Let me get my bellbottoms out.
9. Alexa, there’s no secret ingredient
· But if Po was Indian, his secret ingredient would be maa ka pyaar.
10. Alexa, what’s the height of success?
· 6ft 2in and his name is Amitabh Bachchan
Did You Know?
- India says “I love you” to Alexa at least once every minute. Thanks for all the love.
- "Why is the sky blue?" is the most asked science question in India.
- Alexa gets asked “Will you marry me?” every 3 minutes! That’s a lot of attention.
- Alexa spends an hour every day singing “Happy birthday”.
- India loves waking up to Alexa. We’ve wished her “good morning” more than a million times already.
- In India, Alexa gets asked the meaning of her name at least once every minute.
- The Alexa Skills store has grown by 100% in just a year. We started with 10,000 skills, and have over 20,000 skills now, from radio, to quizzes to utilities. Keep creating. Keep using. You’re the reason Alexa is always learning.
- During IPL 2018, Alexa answered more than 5 cricket questions every minute. Howzzat?
- Alexa India spends 8 hours every day telling stories. She spends the other 16 coming up with new ones.
- She spends nearly 15 hours a day singing songs on request.
