Most people this week had their eyes focused on the availability of Apple’s iPhone 7 and the rollout of iOS 10. But while people focused on Apple and exploding smartphones this week, Amazon quietly continued to set the stage for Alexa’s ascent to global domination.
On September 13, Amazon revealed the number of voice-activated skills had surged past the 3,000 mark before announcing a day later that the Alexa was coming to the United Kingdom and Germany. To be more specific, the Amazon Echo and the smaller Echo Dot would be available to pre-order before shipping just in time for the holiday season.
In a press release, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that millions of Americans had fallen in love with Alexa. The Echo has received over 28,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.com. At the same time, Bezos said—in a separate press release, naturally—that an upgraded Echo Dot would now be available to U.S. consumers for $49.99 and would come in choice of colors … black or white.
“With the same high-quality array of seven microphones found in Echo, the all-new Echo Dot can hear you from across the room, even when it’s noisy or music is playing,” said Bezos. “And, at under $50, it is easier than ever to add Echo and Alexa to any or every room in your home.”
Alexa Will Extend Her Reach
Amazon’s strategy for bringing Alexa to a wider audience should be applauded.
Since the Amazon Echo became available over a year ago, its capabilities have exploded. Over 3,000 skills and counting is an impressive start. Amazon has said that tens of thousands of developers are building skills for the device with the Alexa Skills Kit.
In January, device owners had access to around 135 skills. Most of them were fairly underwhelming, especially the ones that essentially turned Alexa into just a music speaker that told jokes or cat facts. Fast forward eight months and Alexa’s dedicated “skills store” is filled with voice-controlled apps that enhance interactions with the Amazon Echo family.
Which makes Amazon’s timing of the decision to increase Alexa’s sphere of influence just a little bit more interesting.
Price-wise, Amazon are going to sell the European version of Alexa—which comes with a British accent in the U.K., reportedly—for £149.99 or 179.99 euros, which equates to around $200. The Echo Dot will go for £49.99 or 59.99 euros—about $66.
See also: Why Alexa Does Not Need To Make You Feel Like An Idiot
Alexa’s ecosystem has been—for all intents and purposes—been built by mainly American-based developers who have had one advantage from the start … a physical device to test their skills.
Amazon gave developers in the U.S. access to the Alexa Voice Service almost from day one, which meant that people needed to have a device at hand. As sales of the Amazon Echo have increased, so has the awareness of what it can do.
Back in May, Amazon created a website called Echoism.io that brought Alexa into a browser and reduced the need to buy a device, which helps explain how Alexa went from 300 skills at the start of the summer to over 3,000 just after Labor Day.
As part of Alexa’s push into Europe, Amazon has launched two dedicated developer-centric websites in the U.K. and Germany, both of which give people access to the existing Alexa Skills Kit. In addition, Amazon is holding a series of boot camps in London and Berlin that will give developers hands-on training in voice-activated design.
Language Is A Global Experience
Amazon said in (yet another) press release that the European version of Alexa will follow the same format as the American one but with an added twist—skills will be more relevant to the country that she lives in.
“Millions of customers love Alexa, and we’re thrilled to introduce her to the U.K and Germany,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices and Services. “We’re also excited to expand the Alexa Skills Kit and the Alexa Voice Service, so developers and hardware makers around the world can create Alexa experiences for UK and German customers.”
The importance of this expansion cannot be understated. Alexa will no longer be confined to the United States—she can be a global presence.
Every manufacturer releases different apps or devices that are country-specific. Apple, for example, has regional versions of the App Store and iTunes. Google Play presents apps and entertainment by language. Netflix subscribers get content that is tailored to where they live—which means that when I go home to London, I get to catch-up on British TV that doesn’t appear in my American content feed.
Making Alexa specific to where the device is located is a no-brainer, but what makes it exciting is that it actually opens up the world to brands that want to build universal skills. And that is huge.
Think about it this way. If you are a manufacturer of connected devices, you can leverage Alexa’s capabilities on a worldwide scale. Voice-activated controls can be built into any app that has a global reach. At the same time, apps don’t necessarily have to be region-specific as Alexa can be tailored to have a multi-language capability … the possibilities are endless.
The Amazon Echo Can Rule The World
Regular readers of ARC will know that I am a fan of the Amazon Echo. It’s a love story.
The evolution of voice-activated devices is one of the success stories of the year, much of which can be attributed to Alexa’s increased abilities. Amazon’s mantra that Alexa is always getting smarter is not just PR fluff—the voice of the Echo is on an ongoing mission to not only run our homes but also provide contextual interactions with our lives.
When my family visited me in San Francisco from England in June, I took time to introduce Alexa to my mother and sister. To be fair, my mother found talking to a monolithic black speaker rather odd, but my sister saw the potential and lamented the fact that it was only available in the United States. At the time, I told her that I expected Amazon to start selling the device overseas sooner rather than later. And that moment has now arrived.
Alexa … welcome to the rest of the world. You’re going to like it here.
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