Amazon has pulled the Echo Wall Clock from its website, and stopped purchases of the product. Due to a small amount of users facing connectivity issues.
According to the statement that Amazon gave to The Verge, the company is aware of a small number of customers having connectivity issues. “We’re working hard to address this and plan to make Echo Wall Clock available again in the coming weeks.” So in the meantime, it made the Echo Wall Clock unavailable on its site – the listing is still there though – so that users don’t order it and face the same issues.
Given that the Echo Wall Clock is a connected clock, having connectivity issues is a pretty big deal. Without the connectivity, it’s basically just a plain old analog clock that’s hanging on your wall. Basically, the Echo Wall Clock is just a wall clock. It’s pretty sad though, that Amazon couldn’t resolve this before it started selling the thing. Seeing as it did start selling much later than the other Echo products it announced last year.
The connectivity issues are a bit strange though. Considering it does not have Alexa built-in. It is Alexa compatible. Meaning that in order for it to work with Alexa, you need to have an Echo in your home as well. It’s a bit like the Sonos PLAY:1, or the ecobee3 smart thermostat, where it is Alexa compatible, but if you don’t have an Echo, it’s essentially worthless. As it will only work as a clock, and not be a smart analog clock.
There’s no microphone or speaker in the Echo Wall Clock either. The only connectivity here is Bluetooth, which means that you do need to have an Echo nearby. This might make it a bit useless for some people, considering the fact that Bluetooth range isn’t that far, and if you already have an Echo in a room, what’s the point of getting the Echo Wall Clock? Though at $29.99, it’s a pretty nice looking clock that you can hang on the wall in your home.
Amazon has not removed the listing for the Echo Wall Clock. Instead it has simply made it “Currently Unavailable”, so you are unable to buy it. Amazon does plan to bring it back in the “coming weeks”. But the last time an Echo product was pulled, it was replaced with a “second generation” a few weeks later. This happened with the Echo Dot a few years ago. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see Amazon pull the same thing with the Echo Wall Clock, and debut a second-generation model.
The Echo Wall Clock was a pretty interesting product from Amazon, and something that we hadn’t seen before. So seeing it with issues is not a surprise, this happens with first-generation products from time to time. Hopefully Amazon can get it straightened out fairly soon, and fix the models that have already been sold to customers. Though Amazon says that it’s a small handful of customers that are having issues, there are still some having issues.