Success is relative. Voice didn't turn out to be "the next big computing platform". It's still mostly a command interface. Perhaps it still could become something bigger. Alexa isn't widely used on the iPhone/iOS/CarPlay or Android/Android Auto, the two most important places for voice. Alexa works well but doesn't have a clear technology advantage vs Google Assistant (admittedly, Siri is trash).

Contrast that to VR, which is in a much earlier stage of its technology and adoption cycle: Meta has a strong technology advantage, currently has the best overall platform and _if_ VR becomes the next big computing platform, Meta is in a strong position to capture a significant proportion of market share. It's a big if! but at least there's still a chance.

Voice still has a lot of potential, especially with the advances in AI that we've been seeing recently. A robust voice-controlled interface would be immensely useful to consumers. I think the investment in Alexa voice is well worth it compared to whatever meta is doing atm.

Voice as an interface sucks for almost everything where choices exist. As a purely serial communications method you are forced to wait for enumerated choices.

As a primary interface voice was very widely used in the 80s and 90s in the form of IVRs and the industry was immediately destroyed by web browsers as fast as was possible. Nothing makes people angrier than having to go through a phone menu system and that’s just an organized version of your more general voice interface.

“Alexa set a timer” defines the kinds of interactions that are sensible to do with voice and it is very, very narrow.

It was never, ever going to be big.

From what I heard, and this was years ago, it is a very resource intensive service to actually run. Given how little I have personally used my Alexa to make or inform actual purchases, I suspect it unfortunately doesnt actually earn much.