Panos Panay, Amazons senior vice president of devices and services, talks about Alexa+ at the ... [+] launch event in New York earlier this week.Anshel SagAt an event in New York City this week, Amazon launched the next generation of its Alexa assistant the Alexa+ which has been rearchitected to run agentic generative AI models. Company leaders including CEO Andy Jassy and senior vice president Panos Panay led the discussion, describing how the companys journey with AI has led it to build a new version of Alexa based on generative AI and more natural user interfaces. Alexa already exists in many platforms, ranging from smart home speakers and smartphones to automobiles and TVs. Alexas strength has always been in smart-home applications, especially bolstered by acquisitions such as Ring and Eero.Although Alexa has been around for years and has a large installed base, Amazon is a bit behind the curve now, given that many other companies are already offering agentic AI solutions that power next-generation assistants. Because the age of agentic AI began just last year, were still seeing those agents evolve and improve rapidly. While Alexa+ may be a bit late to the show, I do believe that Amazons approach to it may end up being more meaningful for users and should inform Amazons overall direction with consumer AI.Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on stage talking about the companys AI strategyAnshel SagWhat Is Different About Alexa+?Amazon stated that Alexa+ is based on four pillars. The company wants to ensure that Alexa+ is:Conversational Amazon wants Alexa+ to feel more natural and not like a traditional electronic assistant.Personalized Alexa+ is engineered to understand your individual needs and learn new ones as they arise.Action-Oriented Alexa+ acts on your behalf, for example by planning, shopping and making arrangements for you.Smarter Amazon wants Alexa+ to be knowledgeable and approachable for users.Amazon redesigned Alexa+ so it can show how it understands what you are saying through a combination of speech-to-text and blue icons that show how Alexa+ is responding. Alexa is now more than 10 years old, and Amazon wants users to move away from Alexa Speak and towards a new type of conversational engagement that feels more natural and expressive. This also means that users can now create routines by voice rather than needing to create complex routines in the Alexa app.On stage, Amazon showed a really interesting demo of the capability to use Alexa+ while listening to music and then contextually find and jump to the exact moment in a movie that the music is in, using the example of 2018s A Star is Born on Prime Video. You can also shift the music youre playing from room to room or even parts of a room, all with voice commands. Another demo used an integration between Ring and Alexa+ to easily query video recordings for things like package deliveries or letting out the pets.In addition to the demos on stage, Amazon also showed off how one could build shopping lists using Alexa+ and how the device can easily tap into services like Amazon Fresh or the Whole Foods app to make ordering food even easier. The ability to ask for ingredients based on pre-known recipes is very useful, and Amazon says that youll be able to bring your own recipes into Alexa+ to make shopping for your next meal even easier. While the OpenTable integration is also fairly interesting, there are still some roadblocks in the way, for example restaurants that require a credit card to confirm a reservation.Amazon says that Alexa+ will connect to thousands of services and devices to enable Alexa+ to take actions for customers. This means working with partners beyond OpenTable and adding companies such as Dyson, Plex, Samsung and Hulu to enable next-generation home AI experiences. Over time, Alexa+ should be able to learn which apps to use based on understanding the users intent; with so many connected apps in the ecosystem, theres a lot of goodness to be had.Amazons Mara Segal giving more demos of Alexa+Anshel SagFocusing On The In-Home Experience With Alexa+While Amazon was not the first to market with an agentic AI assistant, it is clear that the compnays focus is still very much on improving the in-home experience, as the examples shared above suggest. There was no talk about how Alexa+ will work on mobile devices or in automobiles areas where Amazon could potentially see growth opportunities. Currently the Alexa in my Mustang Mach-E isnt very useful for me, but with Alexa+ it could get a lot more use, even if it has to compete with Google Assistant.Amazon had the right idea of trying to integrate Alexa into the car because I believe that with increased autonomy, cars will become the mobile living room of the future. Being able to connect the device intelligence you have built at home with Alexa+ would be extremely powerful on the go in the car or on the phone. There are so many ways that Alexa+ could keep you informed about whats going on at home through your phone, it seems inevitable that it would be more powerful with a better mobile experience.Alexa+ Pricing And AvailabilityAmazon says that Alexa+ will cost $20 a month but be free for Amazon Prime users. Early access will begin in March and start with availability for the Echo Show 8, 10, 15 and 21 devices. However, the company did say that it eventually plans to support Alexa+ on the majority of existing Alexa devices. There is a chance that some of the oldest Alexa smart speakers might not be compatible; I think that if you want to use Alexa+, you should probably consider at least an Echo Show 10. I currently have an Echo Show 8, but I dont think thats going to create a good experience with Alexa+.Analyst Takeaways From The Alexa+ AnnouncementWhile Amazon definitely feels like its late in some ways to the agentic AI party, it did deliver a strong showing right off the bat with the first Alexa+ demos. Amazon knows the smart home space very well, and I think that with Alexa+, Amazon is continuing to lean into that heritage, because it very much feels like Alexa+ will live nicely in the kitchen, the living room and even the bedroom.I do believe that Amazon needs a stronger mobile and automotive story to complement the at-home interactions with smart speakers and smart displays. It doesnt make sense for users to invest so much time and effort into using an AI agent like Alexa+ at home, only to lose that richness and personalization once they get in the car or leave the home. If Im right that the automobile will eventually become the moving living room for many users, it could create a huge opportunity for Amazon. Although Amazon has had a hard time in the past with building its own smartphones, really all I think it needs to start down that road is a good mobile app experience.