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changes, including ubiquitous tracking, accessible artificial
The very point of sale intelligence, constant sharing, getting paid to watch ads,
VR in your home, etc."

Kelly's prescription for dealing with the "new economy" is
to make sure the pace of innovation exceeds the pace of
commoditization. "We will create artifacts and services
rapidly, as if they were short-lived bubbles," he wrote.
"Since we can't hold back a bubble's drift toward popping,
we can only learn to make more bubbles, faster."
The race to a zero-click Can you hear me now?

economy New York Times journalist Danny Hakim has been
researching the expanding role of digital assistants,
especially the increasingly popular listening devices that
store consumer conversations in the cloud. In his December
By Dale S. Laszig 2017 article, "Alexa, Stop Listening! Hey Google, You Too,"
he found devices priced to sell before they even achieve
eople tend to think of commoditization as some- proof of concept that consumer privacy protections can be
thing that happens to corn, soybeans or cotton, enforced. Listening technology may soon make its way to
but financial instruments can be commoditized the business world before all the kinks are worked out, he
P too, according to InvestingAnswers.com. The added. "Amazon said last month that it was bringing Alexa
website defines a commodity as any item that meets three to the workplace, where it can help set up conference calls
conditions: it must be standardized, it must be usable upon or track appointments," he wrote. "Google has priced its
delivery and its price must vary enough to justify creating Home Mini under $30 for the holiday season. And Apple is
a market for it. coming out with its own competitor, HomePod, next year."

Electronic transactions were once a novel idea; now Among Hakim's concerns is the notion that listening
they're bought and sold on the open market. In the 1990s, devices may record conversations all the time, not just
merchants traded paper receipts for countertop terminals; when prompted, or could even be used for wiretapping.
eventually banks stopped accepting paper deposits. "Generally, I'm a man of few 'voice inputs,' but I'm not sure
Soon all merchants had countertop POS devices, and I want any of them sent to Amazon's servers," he wrote.
merchant level salespeople (MLSs) had to find new ways "Amazon says that you can delete your records, although it
to differentiate. Some competed on rate; others promoted cautions that 'deleting voice recordings may degrade your
bundled services and discounted hardware. That's how Alexa experience' because Alexa learns by getting to know
our race to zero began. your voice inputs."

Which payment players were first out of the gate in the Listening devices are encroaching on payments, sweetening
race to zero? Some claim it was MLSs, selling lower and deals for customers who allow the devices to order physical
lower rates. Others blame equipment manufacturers for and digital products. "When you make a voice purchase
competing on price until devices became so cheap we request, Alexa searches through Prime-eligible items from
had to give the terminals away. The fact is all payments your order history and Amazon's Choice items which are
industry stakeholders played a part in the race to zero by highly rated, well-priced products," Amazon.com stated. "If
commoditizing merchant services in various ways. an item is available, Alexa tells you the item name and price.

Follow the free Alexa also tells you the estimated delivery information if
it will not be standard Prime 2-day shipping. Additional
Kevin Kelly, author and former Executive Editor of Wired details about that item are available in the Alexa app. Then,
magazine, believes the race to zero is based on natural Alexa asks you to confirm or cancel the order."
law. In his 1998 business bestseller, New Rules for the New Hero or zero?
Economy, he wrote, "Over time, any product is on a one-way
trip over the cliff of inverted pricing and down the curve As listening devices publicly compete for market share,
toward the free." He accurately predicted all manufactured business leaders expect to see aggressive discounts, price
devices will follow the doom loop of commoditization and wars and product offers designed to entice consumers
decreasing price in the digital economy. to acquire and enable digital assistants. Scott Galloway,
bestselling author, public speaker and Professor of
His 2016 book, The Inevitable, explores emerging trends and Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business, said
how they will shape our destiny. "This book is about the Siri (Apple) and Alexa (Amazon) have "entered the
deep trends over the next 20 years that will shape your thunderdome, where two voices enter and only one will
life," he wrote in a blog post. "I suggest we embrace these leave."
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