Echo Abilities Expanding

The Echo / Alexa seems to be slowly expanding its capabilities, especially for local search. Some highlights:

• Reading Kindle books from last page left off (produces an ad for Audible)
• Asking for local entertainment
• Asking for local restaurants

It’s likely that Amazon is tapping into some new local information source that it either has access to or acquired. This opens some questions:

• Can this add to Alexa’s capabilities on mobile?
• Will it open up food or other service ordering through the device as its own platform? (rather than through certain skills)
• What other information could be passed on to service providers to facilitate ordering?