Amazon unveils Echo Show, an Alexa-powered speaker with a 7" touchscreen and video calling for $229.99; preorders open now, ships June 28
then cloned its product for the new Echo Terence Lee / Tech in Asia : Brief: Amazon invests millions in a startup, then launches a similar product David Isbitski / Amazon Developer Services : Introducing the All-New Echo Show Fredric Paul / Network World : Amazon's new Echo Show is a really big deal Don Reisinger / Fortune : Apple Employees Said to Be Testing Amazon Echo Rival at Home Jan Dawson / Tech Narratives : Amazon Partner Accuses it of Copying its Product for Echo Show Curtis Silver / Forbes : Amazon Echo Show Is A 67-Year-Old Innovation That Can Show You Things (To Buy) Nick Kolakowski / Dice Insights : Will Amazon Echo Show Allow Third-Party Apps? Dan O'Shea / Retail Dive : Amazon's Echo Show allows Alexa to answer queries with visuals ABC News : Amazon unveils ‘Echo Show’ for the smart home PYMNTS.com : Amazon Officially Launches The Touchscreen Echo Show Elyse Betters / Pocket-lint : Apple's Siri speaker: What could it be? Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : Amazon Open To Having Apple Music On The Echo Andy Abramson / VoIPWatch : Hello! It's Alexa Calling or Is There An Echo? Oliver Haslam / Redmond Pie : Report Says It's Unclear If Apple's Siri-Powered Speaker Will Feature A Screen eMarketer and Newsroom Posts : Recommended Reading: May 10, 2017 — eMarketer's scan … Jeff Dunn / Business Insider : Amazon's Echo isn't going to give up its lead anytime soon Zac Hall / 9to5Mac : Bloomberg: Unclear if Siri Speaker will feature display, Amazon open to Apple Music on Echo Denisse Moreno / International Business Times : Unclear If Siri Speaker Will Have Display Screen Like Amazon's Echo Show Paul Miller / The Verge : Developers will be able to build interfaces for the Echo Show soon George Avalos / SiliconBeat : Amazon unveils Echo Show, a $230 speaker that does video calls Christian Zibreg / iDownloadBlog.com : Bloomberg: Apple employees are testing rumored Siri smart speaker at home Mike Flaminio / Insanely Great Mac : Report: Apple employees testing Echo-like device Yoni Heisler / BGR : Bloomberg dishes new details on Apple's unreleased Siri speaker MacDailyNews : Bloomberg: Unclear if Apple's forthcoming Siri Speaker will feature a display; Amazon would love … Evan Selleck / iPhone Hacks : Apple Employees Have Been Testing Amazon Echo Competitor at Home for Months Gary Ng / iPhone in Canada Blog : Apple Employees Reportedly Testing ‘Siri Speaker’ at Home: Bloomberg Kellex / Droid Life : DEAL: Save $100 on Amazon Echo Show 2-Pack YouTube : Introducing Echo Show Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE : Updated: Amazon launches Echo Show with a 7-inch screen, video calls Seth Fiegerman / CNNMoney : Amazon launches new Echo with a touchscreen Peter O'Kelly / Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check : Introducing Echo Show - Amazon Official Site Vishal Laul / Neowin : Amazon officially unveils the Echo Show, has a touchscreen and costs $229.99 Shannon Vavra / Axios : Amazon's “Echo Show” raises privacy concerns Madeline Buxton / Refinery29 : Amazon's New Echo Is Here — & It Has A Face William White / InvestorPlace : New Amazon Echo Features a Touchscreen Todd Bishop / GeekWire : Amazon unveils $230 touch-screen ‘Echo Show’ and Alexa voice calling Juli Clover / MacRumors : Apple's Plans for Upcoming Siri Speaker Remain Unclear in Regard to Display Ben Fox Rubin / CNET : Amazon's Echo Show is a giant phone for your kitchen counter Shubham Agarwal / Technology Personalized : Amazon's new $230 Echo Show Comes with a 7-inch Screen for Calls, Video Clips and more Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times : Amazon adds screen to intelligent speaker with Echo Show Brent Dirks / AppAdvice.com : A New Report Says its Unclear if Apple's Siri Speaker Will Have a Screen Michael Harthorne / Newser : Amazon Unveils an Echo With a Screen Josh Smith / Gotta Be Mobile : Amazon Echo Show: 5 Things You Need to Know Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch : Amazon adds voice calling and messaging on all Echo devices and the Alexa app JR Raphael / Computerworld : How Google can seriously one-up Amazon's Echo Show Tweets: Matt / @mattk : The software is not quite there for multi-user. And it needs an auto-swivelling stand to point to the voice location. http://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : Echo Show looks neat, but big risk to open up that 1:1 comparison with a phone. http://www.theverge.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Once you can chain your Echos together, Sonos is dead. The Show looks great —> http://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Amazon's Echo Show looks great. It's amazing that it's Amazon doing this device and not Microsoft, Google, or Apple http://www.youtube.com/... Benedict Evans / @benedictevans : Echo and Apple Watch have a lot of overlap. They do little or nothing you can't do with your phone, but change context and reduce friction.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Echo Show is Amazon's answer to a question its own ecosystem created: after adding voice calling and messaging across all Echo devices and the Alexa app, the company is putting a 7-inch touchscreen and camera on the speaker itself, shipping June 28 at $229.99. The launch lands amid friction — an Amazon partner accuses the company of cloning its product for the Show, and reports flag privacy concerns over a camera-equipped always-on home device.
The competitive frame is set by Apple: Bloomberg reports Apple employees are testing a rumored Siri-powered smart speaker at home, making the Show Amazon's move to define the screen-speaker category before Cupertino ships one.
First-order effects
- Apple's home-testing Siri speaker now has a shipped, priced competitor to match — Amazon gets first-mover positioning in video calling from the kitchen counter.
- The copying accusation from an Amazon investment partner puts channel trust on the table alongside the product, just as privacy questions attach to a camera in the living room.
Second-order effects
- The screen turns Alexa from a voice utility into a merchandising surface — Forbes' framing that the Show 'can show you things to buy' points to commerce, not calls, as the margin story.
- Rival assistants face pressure to add displays too, while Amazon's price point establishes the premium tier the line will later stretch beneath.
Third-order effects
- The pattern holds in the corpus: the Show fragments into a size ladder — the $89.99 Echo Show 5, the motorized-base Show 10, up to a 21-inch wall unit — turning a single SKU into a household display platform.
- By the 2025 Echo Show 8/11 hands-on, the original tensions have matured rather than resolved: still no camera cover, and ads are explicitly coming — the screen-first assistant hardening into an ad-and-commerce surface.
The trend: Smart speakers are evolving from voice-only devices into tiered families of screens that double as communication and commerce surfaces, with Amazon setting the template and monetizing it through ads.