Has this been officially announced?

Wow if so!

Not sure this will be that exciting, TBH.

Just compared my Christmas wishlist from Amazon.com, and only one item was available in the AU store. And that one would've cost more than ordering from the US (even after factoring in GST).

Amazon has not announced the launch date for New Zealand yet.

There was an announcement regarding Amazon Echo being available here from early 2018 and mentioning some local developers working on new skills.

The date is something I've heard around.

Makes sense for them to cover NZ once the Echo officially launches here.

Given that from Amazon's perspective the main reason for Alexa's existence is to make it easier to buy stuff from them rather than anyone else.  

I'm surprised by this. The Australian launches was talked about IIRC for over a year before it actually happened. With the need to secure a warehouse, deals with suppliers etc, it's difficult to keep it secret. Someone here https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99540053/amazon-australia-opens--but-only-limited-goods-ship-to-new-zealand suggests NZ won't have a proper warehouse but a logisitics centre and will be serviced by AU and US but even then, it seems to me something difficult to keep out of the media. 

I mean surely someone who write about it, even if it isn't the latest story about how Meghan Markle and Harry are got into a fight on Married at First Sight over a reddit post sharing secrets from people who worked as McDonalds about how you've been doing it wrong your whole life when it comes to reading viral conversations between a dad and his daughter concerning the latest super food which will allow you live forever despite failing a maths quiz intended for 6 year olds, probably because you were distracted by that photo everyone can't stop talking about. 

I did find this which discusses the Echo or Alexa launch here https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/amazon-launching-alexa-nz-ck-210703 but it mentions they may partner with a large utility. I wonder if that partnership is because they aren't going to properly launch Amazon here at the time? 

freitasm: The Echo launch is not a partnership with a big utility. The SDK was announced last week and they gave examples of companies, including Air NZ, developing Alexa skills.

It is very much an Amazon thing no different than Microsoft working with some large companies to create apps to support Windows 10 launch.

freitasm: Yes. I updated my address on my Fire TV Alexa last month while. The app allowed NZ addresses and it works just fine... Thing s like "Alexa what are the pizza places around here" and other things without having to specify city, town and country.

Dingbatt:

freitasm: The Echo launch is not a partnership with a big utility. The SDK was announced last week and they gave examples of companies, including Air NZ, developing Alexa skills.

It is very much an Amazon thing no different than Microsoft working with some large companies to create apps to support Windows 10 launch.

Does that mean my Echo Dots will stop thinking they are 1.2 miles from the center of Seattle? Looking forward to some local skills being added to Alexa.

If you want to play around - https://beebom.com/how-to-set-up-and-use-amazon-echo-outside-us/ - That worked for at least switching my Amazon Echo to support asking "whats the weather" and providing me back the local weather. For the news I added the NZ Herald skill that someone has developed. Haven't actually played around with anything else to see if it works for local listings. 

I think they are using wifi or something to position now, as mine has got really accurate including the beach haven part of the address, rather than chatswood. Unless they are also guessing that one of my delivery addresses is where I am at.

rogercruse:

 

razor2000nz: What device are you using to update your address? I’ve tried on the web portal page, but It says I have to select a country but NZ isn’t on the drop down list.

 

 

 

The following is a summary of the fully instructions provide elsewhere on GeekZone...

 

 

 

Using FireFox web browser... go to alexa.amazon.com [this is important as Chrome extension can cause problems]

 

go into Settings and initially setup the location for anywhere in the UK... just provide United Kingdom & a valid postcode.

 

call the developer tool network tab by hitting Cntl+Shift+E

 

Add 'device-preferences' in the filter, disable the cache and press enter.

 

you should see GET and PUT status alerts in the developer window...

 

select the PUT and right-click to choose the 'Edit and Resend' option...

 

Now change the instances of of GB & the post-code you entered to NZ and a valid kiwi code...

 

press enter and hope you get a green 200 status message.

 

Good Luck!!!! 

 

The Echo address settings thing is crazy. It has Nambia and Kenya but not Australia or New Zealand...

Go Figure.