Amazon Alexa is celebrating its third anniversary in Australia this week, and to celebrate Amazon has released some of the top Alexa hacks and unique Aussie-isms Alexa has picked up during her three years down under.
As we spent more time in the home, smart speakers increased by 40% during the pandemic last year and Amazon is seeing a steady rise in Aussies embracing all Alexa has to offer.
From downloading the Amazon Alexa app on our phones, to investing in Echo Smart speakers, Aussies have been using Alexa for everything from listening to music, tuning into news and weather reports, to optimising their daily routines.
But Alexa also has many weird and wonderful quirks that have been keeping Aussie’s entertained throughout the years, and some we don’t yet use enough.
Aussies are certainly making the most of Alexa to manage their day-to-day lives with over a third of users (36%) utilising smart speakers in their daily lives, and 48% using smart speakers to listen to the news and weather reports.
As a country of music lovers, streaming music remained a top use case for Alexa in 2020, with Tones and I’s Dance Monkey topping the chart for the most requested song by an Aussie artist last year. If you weren’t playing Dance Monkey, then you were probably listening to the radio, with requests for radio stations also spiking last year as Aussies spent more time at home and less time in the car.
It turns out we’re also experts when it comes to embracing Alexa’s funny side. Known for our self deprecating humour, it comes as no surprise that we’re asking Alexa for insults four times more than we’re asking for compliments. Not only that, novelty skills like Pickachu Talk, Ask for a Fart and Bark Like a Dog, grew 271% YOY in March-June 2020.3
Her most amusing of which are questions you’ll have to ask her to find out:
| “Alexa, do a fart” | “Alexa, compliment me” |
| “Alexa, give me a lucky dip” “Alexa, make everyone leave” “Alexa, that’s so fetch” | “Alexa, do a party trick” “Alexa, talk like a Yoda / superhero / reality star / teenager” |
Alexa has also inherited true ocker Aussie slang in the last three years, from learning about Bonnie Doon, to throwing prawns on the barbie, to deadly Aussie animal knowledge.
Try asking Alexa:
| “Alexa, look at me” “Alexa, give me a summer hack” “Alexa, we’re going to Bonnie Doon” | “Alexa, throw a shrimp on the barbie” “Alexa, give me a cricket sledge”“ “Alexa, thongs or jandals?” |
With many users engaging with Alexa more than ever last year, Amazon is predicting that Aussies will become more adventurous in the ways they use it.
“It’s been humbling to see so many Aussies welcoming Alexa into their homes over the past three years. We’ve worked hard to delight our customers by adding over 25,000 skills to Alexa, from useful skills such as Cocktail King and RadioApp to crowd pleasers such as Spotify, Audible, Apple Music, Podcasts, and Netflix. We pride ourselves on building a seamless experience that Aussies love and will continue to deliver on this for our customers.
Kate Burleigh, Country Manager for Amazon Alexa and Devices
“Looking ahead to 2021 and beyond, we’re expecting to see more customers talking with friends and family in Australia and internationally, via Alexa Calling and Alexa Drop In features in response to the human need to connect. Never has this been more important, especially while many of us are unable to visit friends and family as often as we would like.