Generally speaking, the disruptive innovation theory is a powerful way of thinking concerning innovation-driven development. In fact, numerous organizations consider it their guiding star. Sadly, the theory is in danger of becoming its prosperity victim. In this regard, the core concept of the theory has been widely miscomprehended and its fundamental tents often misapplied ( Christensen, Raynor, & McDonald, 2016) . Moreover, the recognition of the initial formulation has overshadowed the important refinements in the theory . For this reason, the theory has received considerable criticism for already addressed shortcomings.
Conversational interfaces have begun becoming popular. In this regard, Amazon has released its conversational interface known as Alexa. It is a voice-enabled virtual assistant built inside their Amazon Echo (hands-free in-home speaker). Alexa utilizes skills to respond to a variety of requests (Orr & Sanchez, 2018). In other words, she can execute numerous tasks by merely asking her a query or issuing a command starting with the phrase “Alexa.”
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Alexa is indeed not a disruptive innovation. It is more of a sustaining innovation since her capability appears to be better in the eyes of the existing customers of incumbents such as Google and iPhone. Alexa has received significant improvements compared to other virtual assistants such as, Bixby, Siri and google assistance that are housed inside a smartphone. With Alexa, however, the users can enjoy the virtual assistant without the hassle of pulling out their mobile devices. Even though there are no screens for users to interact with, the benefit Alexa enjoys is that she sits in the home, regular listening and getting smarter. This technology is not a disruptive technology as it neither originates in low-end or new-market. There is no evidence that the technology was created to satisfy low-end customers. Also, Amazon developed the interface in a market that already existed. Instead, Alexa has significant improvements that make it superior over other virtual assistants.
References
Christensen, C. M., Raynor, M. E., & McDonald, R. (2016, December 19). What Is Disruptive Innovation? Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation
Orr, D. A., & Sanchez, L. (2018). Alexa, did you get that? Determining the evidentiary value of data stored by the Amazon® Echo. Digital Investigation, 24 , 72-78. doi: 10.1016/j.diin.2017.12.002
