Amazon is killing its fashion-oriented Echo Look

Amazon's Echo Look sounded like some kind of late April Fools joke when it landed back in 2017, offering smart "style assistant" functionality via Alexa. The whole gimmick was literally that it took photos and videos of you showing off your clothes you when you asked, and could run them past a "Style Check" for AI-automated fashion judgment. You really couldn't make something that ridiculous up, and now Amazon is killing it. The Echo Look itself has been discontinued, and both it and its associated app will stop working in July.

Easy to confuse with an April Fools' day joke.

The news comes courtesy of TechCrunch, and Amazon provided them with a whole huge statement regarding the Echo Look, explaining the rationale behind its decision:

When we introduced Echo Look three years ago, our goal was to train Alexa to become a style assistant as a novel way to apply AI and machine learning to fashion. With the help of our customers we evolved the service, enabling Alexa to give outfit advice and offer style recommendations. We’ve since moved Style by Alexa features into the Amazon Shopping app and to Alexa-enabled devices making them even more convenient and available to more Amazon customers. For that reason, we have decided it’s time to wind down Echo Look. Beginning July 24, 2020, both Echo Look and its app will no longer function. Customers will still be able to enjoy style advice from Alexa through the Amazon Shopping app and other Alexa-enabled devices. We look forward to continuing to support our customers and their style needs with Alexa.

In short, with the Style by Alexa functionality now integrated into the Amazon Shopping app and other Alexa-enabled devices, you can just as easily ignore this functionality on other hardware, making the Echo Look doubly superfluous, and hence its demise.

If you're among those that spent $200 on an Echo Look (probably like twelve people), you may be able to snag a free Echo Show 5 to replace it. Android Central is reporting that some folks that bought one are getting an email with a coupon code (ECHOLOOK20) that will snag them one for free. It's a limited-time deal, and who knows if it applies to everyone that bought one or just folks that got a follow-up email regarding the product's end of life from Amazon, but you can give it a shot if you own one. Just be sure to use the coupon by September 24th.

Via: TechCrunch, Android Central