Jordan O'BrienAmazon’s Alexa-equipped Echo has yet to break cover in the UK, but it’s heavily rumoured to be hitting the British Isles on September 14. Despite that rumour, Amazon has yet to confirm anything – except the possibility of a more affordable Echo Dot, which was seemingly confirmed on the company’s Twitter account.
The Echo Dot is a smaller version of the Echo – it essentially removes the Bluetooth speaker capability of the Echo and simply leaves the Alexa functionality. Some have criticised the price of the Echo Dot, which was unveiled in March with a price tag of $89.99. While that’s $90 less than the full-size Echo, the Echo Dot was designed to be placed in every room of the house – which some found hard to justify at that price.
So how affordable would the Echo Dot have to be in order to convince swathes of consumers to jump in and buy one? Well apparently Amazon is getting ready to settle at a $49.99 price point. In a tweet on the Amazon Echo Twitter account, the company stated: “Introducing the all-new Echo Dot. Add Alexa to any room — now for just $49.99.” That tweet has since been removed, so could have been made in error; but given an event is scheduled for tomorrow, it could be that the company simply made an innocent mistake.
Apparently not? @amazonecho: Introducing the all-new Echo Dot. Add Alexa to any room – now for just $49.99. https://t.co/AQkwY5xbHh/s/Z-sj
— Darrin (@Indypodcaster) 12 September 2016
It’s interesting to note that the Echo Dot is currently sold out – meaning a new version could be coming very soon. It’s entirely possible that Amazon will have something to confirm tomorrow.