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Amazon.com ( AMZN ) seems to have a hit product on its hands with the Amazon Echo smart speaker. The e-commerce giant is estimated to have sold 3 million units of the device in the U.S. since it went on sale in late 2014, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reported Wednesday. Amazon likely sold 1 million Echo devices during just the holiday shopping season in late 2015, CIRP said. Echo is a voice-responsive Internet query device and household controller, as well as a high-end streaming music speaker. Awareness of Amazon Echo among U.S. Amazon customers more than doubled during the year, CIRP said. By the end of 2015, 47% of Amazon’s U.S. customers were aware of Echo, up from 20% in March 2015, the Chicago-based research firm said. “Amazon very carefully but aggressively promoted Amazon Echo during the year,” Josh Lowitz, partner and co-founder of CIRP, said in a statement. “It dedicated Amazon.com homepage real estate to Echo, promoted it on Amazon Prime Day in July, and also advertised it heavily during the holiday shopping season. This effort paid off, as it stood out among Amazon customers.” Amazon also promoted Echo with a Super Bowl commercial this year starring Alec Baldwin. CIRP bases its findings on regular surveys of Amazon customers. In March, Amazon added two more devices that use its Alexa voice-control personal assistance, in addition to Echo. They were the Echo Dot, a smaller hands-free voice-controlled device, and the Amazon Tap, a smart portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker. Echo costs $179.99, while Echo Dot costs $89.99, and Amazon Tap costs $129.99. Amazon’s Alexa technology competes with other voice-response digital assistants, like Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) Siri and Microsoft ‘s ( MSFT ) Cortana. Scalper1 News
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