https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/27/heres-why-amazon-made-those-weird-echo-buttons/

In a day full of Echo announcements, the Echo Button was a clear standout. Not because it was a better or more useful product than the rest, but because it’s just damn weird. Where most of what the company announced today was some iteration on an existing product line (be it the Echo or Fire TV), the Button is a strange, left field offering with a limited case use.

More than any existing Echo, the product resembles a Milton Bradley product from the 80s — sort of a scaled down version of Simon. How did such a bizarre product get added to the company’s road map? The way SVP of Devices David Limp tells it, the product was an accident.