Both Amazon and Google are in the middle of competing with one another over their respective speaker devices: The Amazon Echo and Google Home
Published By: Ken Bock on January 23, 2017 08:40 am EST
With the start of 2017, tech companies Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary, Google, are battling to see which company’s smart-speaker is better. The rising usage of internet-connected Bluetooth speakers has rocketed drastically ever since Amazon rolled out its Amazon Echo speaker in 2014; bolstering the concept of using virtual assistants to control smart-home appliances.
However, with Google’s debut of its Google Home device in November 2016, it’s evident that both companies are trying their best to lead in competitive smart-markets. Now, awaiting their results for the fourth quarter, both companies hope that their efforts to perfect the speakers’ artificial intelligence and voice-recognition capabilities will pay off through the results.
While it remains clear that the Amazon Echo is the leader in competitive markets so far, thanks to its head start since 2014, we believe that the retail giant’s assistant, Alexa, is mainly the prime reason for its success. Integrated with more than 7,000 “Skills,” Alexa can perform a range of tasks – all the way from ordering an Uber for users, placing an order at Dominos, updating grocery lists, obtaining medical feedback, controlling smart lights and thermostats, or just simply giving users weather and traffic updates. All-in-all, Alexa aims to perform as the modern-day assistant for users to help them control their smart-homes without having to manually leave their seats.
Similarly, the Google Home works along the same guidelines with Google’s Assistant. Responding to “Ok Google” commands, the tech giant’s virtual assistant hopes to eliminate competition from Alexa by providing its users with more complex options. Even though the company has not yet managed to ramp up on its own number of “skills,” there is a chance that the Google Home’s advent has potential to eventually sideline Alexa and the Echo device in markets.
While this may not happen immediately, we believe that the battle between Google Home and Amazon Echo will continue to function in markets thanks to the rising usage of such devices. Since Amazon doesn’t always reveal its number of sales or revenue, speculation revealed that that the company has managed to sell more than 11 million Echo devices since its debut. Based on this, there are strong possibilities that both Google Home and Amazon will continue to tweak their cylindrical devices in order to obtain a distinctive edge over each other.
