Google has decided to compete against Amazon’s voice command, Alexa, and is going to introduce its own voice-activated device, Google Home.
Echo, also known as “Alexa”, is a service offered by Amazon to provide a wireless speaker and voice command platform in a cylinder-like speaker with an incorporated microphone. The service includes several features like being able to play music, make lists once the user’s voice commands it, set alarms, playing audiobooks and weather reports, and other voice-interaction activity. It is almost like a Siri service but on a home device.
Now is Google’s turn to get in that market. Spokesmen from one of the biggest technology companies in the world announced that a voice-activated home device that can answer questions and take voice commands will be released next fall.
The shape and mechanism of the device are still unknown, but it will work as a virtual agent that can execute simple tasks. The system will be introduced in the annual developer’s conference that takes place in Silicon Valley at Google’s headquarters. However, that will not be the market release. Instead, it will be an introduction to the product and voice service, probably to attract third party developers to star working in apps that can integrate with Google Home. Google is being very careful with the secrecy around the development of new products, but Google Home seems to be one of the services among a list of new products aimed to be home-tech devices.
Virtual agents, digital assistants…
Since 2011, when Apple released Siri, a voice-activated digital assistant service for the mobile platforms in the brands (iPhone and iPad) the market on virtual agents activated with voice commands has considerably increased. Echo, from Amazon, sold about three million units in the two years that has been on the market.
However, the voice-activated technology is still a field in progress and there is still a lot of issues that users do not understand and developers have not reached yet.
Source: The New York Times