Long before the echo/Alexa stuff, I have been the (proud?) owner of a Nabaztag:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabaztag

I don't think it lasted two whole weeks before I took it offline for good (and the moving ears were actually cute).

My reaction to this article is that I believe the Alexa platform represents one of the few where Amazon.com has an ecosystem with the depth that Apple typically when their respective products reach maturity.

Thought this was going to be about why Alexa.com is shutting down.