Amazon's Alexa skill count reaches 15,000

Within a span of five months, Amazon’s Alexa voice platform has jumped over from 10,000 skills to reach over a count of 15,000. "Skills" for the digital assistant are essentially small pieces of software that add functionality to devices like the Echo.

The new 15,000 figure was first reported via third-party analysis from Voicebot, but has now been confirmed by Amazon itself. Voicebot analysis that was limited only to the US, says that the milestone was reached for the first time on June 30, 2017. In comparison, Google Home has just 378 voice apps available as of June 30, and Microsoft’s Cortana’s count is only 65.

It also found new skill introductions jumped 23 percent during June, whereas the growth rate had been under 10 percent in prior months.

When Amazon announced its 10,000 milestone in February, that figure was up 3x from September 2016. Voicebot also noted that Flash Briefings are still one of the most popular categories of skills, in terms of those that are live on the Alexa Skill Store today.

Amazon is currently the leader in voice-powered devices, where it’s expected to control 70 percent of the market this year – well ahead of Google Home, Lenovo, LG, and others.