[mtlmtlmtlmtl]

Why is this so damn expensive? I have plenty of good hardware available to run the compute for this thing. Just make a daemon/app architecture where I can use my phone as a microphone and run daemons on whatever hardware I need to control.

I just don't see this being worth the money. Hundreds of $ to make switching music slightly more convenient just seems like a colossal waste of money to me.

[Firmwarrior]

I think we're spoiled by Google and Amazon losing so much money for so long

For example, I noticed a couple years ago at the store that a regular featureless analog wall clock was more expensive than an Echo Dot

These guys need to pay for their software dev out of hardware sales and can't hope for a runaway success yet, so of course it'll cost a painfully lot more

[systemicdanna]

Agreed. I don’t need a screen or a loud speaker on a voice assistant box. Just make it small and cheap, as promised.