Boston, MA — Amazon Echo is making it easy for us.
They’ve opened up their API, offered a $100 Million fund to support developers, made a simple backdoor way to create your own commands, and created a spin off device that allows for their AI Alexa to be in more of your rooms at a fraction of the cost.
The opportunity to widen Alexa’s breadth and capabilities to healthcare almost seems hit-you-over-the-head obvious at this point. Health monitoring, caregiving, adherence are all things that require a user-friendly presence in the home – which Amazon Echo has and is capable of.
This week, KidsMD (developed at Boston Children’s Hospital) became the first to take advantage and bring health advice to Amazon Echo. The new service allows parents to ask questions about common illness and get instant information on what drugs to use and dosing. The KidsMD Echo app will also work across devices on Amazon Tap and Fire TV.
Why it matters: It’s the first example of a healthcare company creating an offering on Amazon Echo and we can guess that Echo apps for many therapeutic areas are likely in development by first-movers. It is starting to realize its healthcare potential and will be a new channel to prepare for and actively track for your brands.
