Jim: Motorola made some news over the weekend when it announced that it has selected Amazon’s Alexa as its voice assistant. Will, give us the deets on the Chicago phone maker’s latest partnership.
Will: Motorola made an announcement at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that Amazon’s popular Alexa voice platform would be on “most of (Moto’s) devices moving forward,” Motorola’s VP of Global Product Dan Dery said.
“Later this year will see deep integration of Alexa on Motorola smartphones with Alexa wake-up words. There won’t be any keys to press, no screen to unlock — you will simply talk to Alexa when the device is around,” Dery said, according to TechCrunch.
One of the first Motorola phones to use Alexa will be the Moto Z, which plans to launch a Moto Mod with Amazon Alexa later this year.
Jim: This is a big deal for Motorola as it battles to remain relevant vs. handset juggernauts Apple and Samsung. In the voice assistant game, Apple’s got Siri and Samsung has Viv, the Pritzker-backed voice startup from Chicagoan Dag Kittlaus. Linking up with Amazon’s Alexa gives Motorola some serious voice power, and a vote of confidence from the ecommerce giant.
