https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/27/amazon-doubles-down-on-its-own-echo-hardware-even-as-it-increasingly-relies-on-third-parties/

The biggest surprise of today’s secret Amazon event in Seattle was the sheer breadth of Echo-related announcements. Over the past several months, it’s seemed as if Amazon the company was moving more and more toward offloading hardware development to third-parties building Alexa into everything from thermostats to lamps.

But the company’s first-party hardware continues to be the centerpiece of its Alexa play.