Amazon’s Alexa apps are hard to find. Perhaps ads will help

While Amazon says the company and its partners have sold ‘hundreds of millions’ of Echo smart speakers and other Alexa-capable devices, surveys show most people use them for relatively basic things such as setting a timer and looking up trivia. — AP

Amazon.com Inc, determined to turn Alexa into a money-maker, is inviting developers to advertise their apps on the voice-powered platform.

The ads could generate a new revenue stream, but the company’s main goal is to keep developers engaged by giving them a new way to lure users.