Amazon: Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo is a family of voice-activated devices that allow people to ask questions and receive answers on a variety of topics, such as weather, news, sports and much more. The devices can also connect with some home automation devices or conduct tasks such as ordering products from Amazon.
The Amazon Echo was the original device that the product line takes its name from, announced in November 2014 and launched in limited release. It was made available for anyone to buy in July 2015. It features a high-quality speaker and hands-free voice activation by using the “hotword” of “Alexa.”
In March 2016, two additions to the Echo family were released. The Echo Dot is a smaller version of the original Echo, offering hands-free voice activation but a much lower-quality speaker. The Amazon Tap has a high-quality speaker, a battery allowing it to be portable, unlike the Echo, but the Tap only responds to voice commands after a special button is pressed.
For more about the Echo products, see our coverage below.
Amazon’s Alexa finds its business model: in-skill purchases
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Amazon launches a dozen new devices to put ‘Alexa everywhere’
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Adobe: 47% of smart speaker owners using device in shopping process
Another survey finds significant numbers of consumers using smart speakers for product research and purchases....
Report says Google to launch own smart display in time for holidays
Google has the chance to get it right where Amazon and others have so far failed....
Who’s really winning the smart speaker market, Amazon or Google?
Estimates released today by Canalys are very different from figures that Strategy Analytics also published this...
Microsoft and Amazon marry their assistants, but will the honeymoon be short-lived?
Awkward at launch, let's hope they can make assistant "interoperability" better....
Report: Google continues to gain global smart speaker share
Amazon is still the global leader, but its market share has been eroded by new competition. In the US, it still has a 70 percent share....
Report: Amazon internal data suggest ‘voice-commerce’ virtually nonexistent
Contradicting consumer surveys, article claims only 2% of device owners have made purchases through smart speakers this year....
Apple’s HomePod makes modest gains against Echo, Google Home [Report]
Amazon has 70 percent of the market, Google 24 percent and Apple 6 percent....
Report: Smart speaker ownership driving voice adoption on smartphones
But 38% also said they bought a smart speaker 'to reduce screen...
Is your marketing platform really intelligent?
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Voice agents and interfaces will require many new marketing strategies
Marketers are only now getting a glimpse of the many approaches that will be required for the many kinds of voice...
Report: Amazon grabs Ring for more than $1B
Company makes smart home security cameras and other devices, adding to Amazon's growing hardware portfolio....
In (partial) defense of Apple’s HomePod
HomePod sound quality beats Google Home and Echo devices, and Siri performed better than expected....
Report: Google to reabsorb Nest to better compete with Amazon in smart home market
Nest was acquired in 2014 for $3.2 billion and later became one of the company's "other...
Has Apple already missed the smart speaker market?
Increasing sales of Google Home and Amazon Echo devices probably means less demand for Apple HomePod....
PullString drops text-based chat for voice conversations in its new platform
The San Francisco-based company says Converse is the first end-to-end platform for non-tech users to create voice-based Skills for Amazon’s...
Voice search: Content may be king, but context is queen in the new voice-first world
Yext VP of Industry Insights Duane Forrester discusses his new e-book, "How Voice Search Changes Everything," and what marketers can do to adapt...
Amazon to launch pop-up stores in specific Whole Foods markets
The company will also have Alexa and Kindle products in roughly 100 Whole Foods markets across the country....
Amazon to give Prime customers free access to paid Alexa skills content
Company continues to expand Prime benefits; intent to renew about 75 percent....
