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Amazon's Echo, the virtual assistant microphone, became an instant hit after the Super Bowl ad becoming the second best Amazon electronics list of best sellers. After the ad featuring Alec Baldwin, Missy Elliot, Dan Marino and Jason Schwartzman, more and more people became aware of it and showed their interest in the black cylindrical gadget that responds to voice commands. This the first time Amazon displayed an ad during a big game TV spot, reported Inc.com

Even before the commercial came out, Echo was already faring well. It was at the fourth spot before the Big Game TV ad. Today it sits at the third spot, behind Amazon Fire tablet and TV stick. This standalone virtual assistant can control spotify and call you a cab. Alexa, the Siri competitor, is gaining fast traction with the success of Amazon Echo. This surge in product sale has not only surprised Amazon but the whole industry of virtual PAs. "When it came out, people kind of scratched their heads a little bit," says eMarketer analyst Bryan Yeager. However, now that the product ranks high on the best seller's list, the consumers seem to understand what it is used for, Inc.com says.

What makes Echo so special is that it is entirely dedicated to being a voice-activated personal assistant. "I think the challenge with a Siri, or Cortana, or Google Now right now is that they're kind of baked into the operating systems," says Yeager. While sale of Apple or Microsoft or Android is not impacted by their virtual assistants, Yeager says that Amazon's Echo can act as a yardstick to judge the performance of virtual assistants. "There's definitely I'd say more interest in it," he says of the virtual assistant market, "but it's hard to quantify."