Nope, Amazon isn’t at CES 2017 in any formal capacity, but it appears the company is everywhere thanks to Alexa, the voice assistant that powers Amazon’s range of smart home speakers.
Alexa has been extremely popular after the wildly successful launch of Amazon Echo and Dot last year. Since opening up Alexa to third-party applications, it has been placed in a lot of products we’ve seen on the floor at this year’s CES, the most extensive annual consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas.
With competition coming up from the likes of Google Home and Apple HomeKit, Amazon is now getting the voice activated software into as many hardware products and expand its ecosystem as much as possible, to secure its leading position in the market.
Here are some of the companies that unveiled their products with Alexa’s voice recognition technology at CES 2017:
LG: The South Korean tech company put Alexa in a refrigerator called the InstaView Door-in-Door, which has a 29-inch touchscreen that allows people to view what is inside the fridge, and warns if products are about to expire. LG also created the Hub Robot, which uses Alexa to complete household tasks.
Westinghouse, Element, and Seiki: TongFang Global, the Chinese powerhouse, is coming up with 4K ultra HD smart TVs that make use of Amazon Fire TV software under its sub-brands: Westinghouse, Element, and Seiki.
Lenovo: The company came up with its own smart assistant speaker, which is essentially an Amazon Echo clone but with better audio.
Mattel: The toy company that produces Barbie has also come up with an Alexa clone; this time, its name is Aristotle. The A.I. comes equipped with features designed to help parents raise their children.
Bixi: The gesture control company is making its second-generation portable puck that has Alexa in it.
GE: The C by GE Lamp is an internet-connected desk lamp that has a circular LED tube. You can command the lamp to dim the lights, or ask it to set the light to wake you up.
Whirlpool: Whirlpool will be producing its range of smart home appliances — washers, dryers, refrigerators, and ovens — with Alexa, so you can control them with your own voice.
Samsung: The Samsung POWERbot VR7000 is a gadget for the truly lazy. This robot vacuum can be operated using your own voice.
Ford: The car manufacturing company will be using Alexa so that car owners can order their car to warm up or unlock before getting in. Drivers can also request to turn on lights or adjust the thermostat at home even from inside their vehicles.
Alexa’s dominance at CES 2017 is a perfect example of a shifting tide in technology where the Internet of Things is becoming the norm rather than the exception, and where software is being valued and appreciated over hardware.
