Short-term this is an Amazon win but, ultimately, it’s the tip of the iceberg for new consumer interactions with digital. I chuckle at (often older) pundits who react with disdain when I talk about “tired old click and touch interfaces” because they can’t see anything beyond what has become mainstream over the last 20 years. The reality is that AI and complimentary interface technologies like voice, machine vision and emotional sensing are rapidly moving towards commonality and again changing how people interact with things, brands and one another. Just like radio scoffed at the advent of TV, this is absolutely where digital is headed. So for now, Amazon has big early mover advantages. In fact, they opened up the Alexa ecosystem to be brand and developer’s first choice and to maintain that for as long as possible.

That said, although Amazon has a great lead, the future is still unwritten. It’s still the early days and there is plenty of opportunity for innovations and new business models in this arena.

“Alexa continues to get smarter every day.” That’s the opportunity, but also the potential problem. The presence of a listening device in the home may not seem like an issue to many Americans, but the moment it’s hacked, and/or people realize what it’s sharing, they may change their minds.

I’m not an early adopter of smart home technology, but I’m intrigued by Amazon’s new devices and I’m sure plenty of other consumers are, too. I see it as another win for Amazon despite competition from Google — because Alexa is wired into the Amazon ecosystem, not just the Internet of Things at home. It’s hard for Google or anybody else to compete against that.

Amazon’s ability to bring together different technologies that redefine convenience and raise consumer expectations — and to do it at scale — is losing the surprise factor. This is dangerous for Amazon, as it becomes more difficult to meet rising expectations, as well as for competitors who may cede the battle. But it is surely an enviable position to be in as it continues to generate its own tailwinds.

Nevertheless, what we’re seeing in this case from the holiday spending is the trust consumers have placed in Amazon and their appetite for “gadgets” that add convenience and reduce effort/friction in doing what they want to do. Voice may be viewed by many as a marginal technology application in the artificial intelligence arena, but it has tremendous potential to disrupt user interfaces and brand experience. Amazon bringing AI technology into the consumer mainstream brought practical applications and use cases.

Alexa by itself is great. But there is so much more (as we know) to Alexa. “She” is a great opportunity for Amazon and other retailers, but also a great opportunity for a customer to have a great experience. Setting the temperature on a thermostat, turning on and off lights, buying movie tickets, ordering a pizza or purchasing product from Amazon … This is just the beginning. Just as Amazon’s website changed retail, so will Alexa (and Alexa-like) technology.

I think some folks are missing the forest for the trees. To me, it is Alexa’s voice-activated nature that is intriguing, not whether or not you now have one more way to turn your houselights on and off. Smart home technology is advancing, with or without Amazon.

With all due respect to the Fast Company article that was mentioned, grocery reordering technologies have been around for over 20 years, they just aren’t commercial yet. So the question isn’t whether Alexa-related sales give Amazon an edge in smart homes but rather whether or not Alexa devices give Amazon an edge in voice-activated technologies and if that edge is sufficient to help them gain even more traction as part of consumers’ personal digital ecologies. Build an attractive enough digital mousetrap, bait it with the simplest interface — voice activation — and why should a consumer look beyond Amazon to satisfy his or her shopping needs? And of course, smart home technologies are part of that digital ecology, but they aren’t the drivers.

When do I start to worry that Alexa, having consulted with my medical records, refuses to order the ice cream I wanted and won’t place my pizza order? I halfway expect Google Maps to park my car on the side of the road for a reroute time-out the third time I don’t follow directions.

I recently had a retailer tell me to stop talking about Amazon. My reply was, “how?” What other retailer had the foresight to put a device to help you with (fill in the blank) inside your home that will oh-by-the-way also quickly get you anything you need … from them? Right — none.

I may be wrong about this, but I would hope to see Walmart and any other retailer capable of competing with AMZ get on the ball and follow suit. Otherwise, if your main competitor is in everyone’s home and you aren’t, how long till they clock you for good? Right — not long.