Alexa+ is quietly turning into Amazon’s answer to the AI app store

Amazon is pushing Alexa+ further down the “AI assistant as a platform” path — and this time, it’s not subtle.

Starting in 2026, Alexa+ will integrate with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp, letting users do things that normally require multiple apps or tabs: book hotels, get home-service quotes, schedule salon appointments, and discover local businesses — all through conversation.

In practical terms, this means you can say something like “Find me a pet-friendly hotel in Chicago this weekend” and Alexa doesn’t just search — it compares, recommends, books, and manages the reservation via Expedia. No app hopping, no forms, no filters.

Why this matters

This isn’t just about convenience. Amazon is positioning Alexa+ as an AI orchestration layer — a single interface that sits on top of the internet’s most-used consumer services.

It’s the same direction ChatGPT is moving with app and tool integrations, but Amazon has a unique advantage: deep consumer behavior data, payments, and a massive installed base of Alexa devices already sitting in homes.

With these new partners, Alexa+ now spans:

• Travel (Expedia, Fodor)

• Local discovery (Yelp)

• Home services (Angi, Thumbtack)

• Commerce & payments (Square)

• Entertainment & bookings (Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber)

That’s starting to look less like a voice assistant — and more like a conversational operating system.

Early signals (and the big question)

Amazon says early integrations with services like Thumbtack and Vagaro are seeing “strong” engagement, especially around home and personal services. That’s telling. These are tasks people already find annoying in apps — perfect candidates for AI hand-offs.

But behavior change is the real hurdle.

Most users are still wired to think in apps and websites, not conversations. For Alexa+ to win, it has to feel faster and easier than opening Expedia or Yelp directly — every single time.

The risk beneath the surface

There’s also a delicate balance Amazon has to strike:

• Suggest too few services → Alexa feels limited

• Suggest too many → users feel like they’re being advertised to

If AI assistants start pushing integrations at the wrong moment, they stop feeling helpful and start feeling… sponsored.

And unlike an app store, this ecosystem has no visible menu. Discovery has to be contextual, timely, and trustworthy — or users will tune out.

The bigger picture

What Amazon is really betting on is this:
the future interface to the internet isn’t taps or clicks — it’s intent.

If Alexa+ can reliably understand what you want and quietly handle the rest, the app model itself starts to fade into the background.

That’s a massive shift. And 2026 might be the year we find out whether consumers are actually ready for it.