ClaimsJeff Bezos

“Since that first-generation Echo, customers have purchased more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices.”

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, shareholder letter April 2019 2018 Letter to Shareholders (Amazon IR) archived copy

Factual Technology

Since the first-generation Echo, customers have purchased more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Judge as of April 2019. True: Amazon disclosures (shareholder letter, official press releases or executive statements recorded by reliable press as company figures) or credible independent counts show cumulative customer purchases of Alexa-enabled devices (Echo and other Amazon devices with Alexa built in, as Amazon counts them) of more than 100 million by early 2019, since the first Echo in 2014. Mostly true: the total is about 100 million (for example 'about 100 million' rather than clearly above), or it reaches 100 million only when third-party devices with Alexa are counted in a way Amazon's own counting allowed. Mixed: not applicable unless the evidence is split; use only if credible sources disagree roughly evenly. Mostly false: the 100 million figure is reached only by counting something broader than purchases (for example devices shipped to channels, or app installs), or it was reached only after April 2019. False: credible data show cumulative Alexa-enabled device sales clearly below 100 million (for example under about 80 million) as of April 2019.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 Exclusive: Amazon says 100 million Alexa devices have been sold The Verge · 4 January 2019

    “More than 100 million devices with Alexa on board have been sold. That’s the all-too-rare actual number that Amazon’s SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed to me earlier this week.”
  2. E2 Amazon: Over 100 Million Alexa-Enabled Devices Have Been Sold PCMag · 5 January 2019

    “It covers both Amazon-branded devices, such as the Echo Dot, and third-party products built with the voice assistant, a company spokesperson told PCMag.”
  3. E3 Amazon: Over 100 Million Alexa-Enabled Devices Have Been Sold PCMag · 5 January 2019

    “Over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices have been sold to consumers, Amazon's senior vice president Dave Limp told The Verge in an interview published on Friday.”
  4. E4 More than 100 million Alexa devices have been sold | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 4 January 2019

    “More than 100 million devices with Amazon’s Alexa assistant pre-installed have been sold, the company said Friday.”

Reasoning

The Verge, PCMag and TechCrunch all reported in early January 2019, before the April 2019 claim, that Amazon said more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices had been sold, with The Verge and PCMag attributing the figure to SVP Dave Limp (E1, E3, E4). However, an Amazon spokesperson told PCMag that this figure includes third-party products with Alexa built in as well as Amazon-branded devices (E2). None of the evidence gives a breakdown showing that Amazon's own devices alone passed 100 million. The total therefore matches the criteria's "mostly true" case: it reaches 100 million when third-party devices are counted the way Amazon counts them.

Cite this claim

Jeff Bezos, “Since the first-generation Echo, customers have purchased more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices.” (said April 2019). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_b97c8f050328, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_b97c8f050328

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

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All of them

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