Amazon delays Alexa.com's launch to "no sooner than July 31" — as OpenAI preps to topple Google Chrome's dominance in the coming weeks

In February, Amazon was set to launch Alexa.com, a web-based version of its Alexa virtual assistant, in June. However, the company has seemingly pushed this deadline further into the future; we're likely not going to access the feature "no sooner than July 31 (via The Washington Post)."

While details highlighted in Amazon's internal documents remain slim at best, it seems the company underestimated the work it needed to factor in for a successful launch.

Following the announcement of the feature in February at the company's Alexa Plus event, company staffers have been hard at work gearing up for the launch. As of mid-June, the company was still on track to launch Alexa.com, codenamed Project Metis, as soon as the end of that same month.

However, the company's top management seemingly had a last-minute change of heart, announcing to its staffers that the site would become available "no sooner than July 31."

To that end, Amazon's decision to push Alexa.com's launch to a later date remains a mystery as it wasn't highlighted in the leaked internal documents or disclosed by the company's top management.

However, a quick glimpse at Amazon's website for Alexa+, which is set to power Alexa.com, vaguely reiterates that “Alexa on your browser is coming soon." The company announced a host of new features, which are already available to several million people who have early access to Alexa+. It's worth noting that Amazon has already shipped approximately 90% of the features it announced during its event in February.

While speaking to The Washington Post, Amazon spokesperson Lauren Raemhild indicated:

“Customers love that Alexa+ is vastly more conversational and able to handle significantly more complex tasks, and this Early Access phase is really important as we learn how they want to use it, and what they expect.”

Raemhild further indicated that Alexa.com is not delayed and “will be available with Alexa+ Early Access this summer.”

This news comes as OpenAI is getting ready to launch an AI-powered browser in the coming weeks to rival Google Chrome, which is slated to redefine how people interact with the web while potentially giving the ChatGPT maker access to user data.

OpenAI boasts 500 million weekly active ChatGPT users. If OpenAI maintains the same user base across its AI-powered browser, it could pose a significant threat to Google Chrome's dominant hold, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the worldwide browser market, translating to 3 billion people.

Amazon is facing similar challenges to Apple with its delayed Siri overhaul. The iPhone maker seemingly overpromised and underdelivered on its commitment to deliver Apple Intelligence to compete with top-of-the-line AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Even insiders believe that Apple Intelligence might be 2 years behind ChatGPT.

Perhaps more concerning, Apple has landed itself in hot soup and has been dragged to court over using false Apple Intelligence ads to push iPhone 16 sales. Up to this point, Apple has only delivered minor AI features, such as Writing Tools and Image Playground, prompting some users to refer to its flagship AI tools as vaporware.