Consumers have embraced voice-based intelligent assistant devices like Amazon’s Echo Dot and Google Home smart speakers. In fact, on a global basis, the Echo Dot was one of the two best-selling products on Prime Day last month.
But consumer love for these devices apparently isn’t producting a voice commerce boom.
Ladies and gents, welcome to your weekly stats roundup.
This one includes news about social media platforms, voice assistants, email strategies, and more. There’s lots to enjoy in the Internet Statistics Compendium, too, as always.
Home assistants are becoming increasingly popular. Amazon’s Alexa device was the top selling gift last Christmas.
While she might still be seen as a novelty by some, there are those who can see the potential of Alexa and how, perhaps in 30 years’ time, we won’t remember a time without her.
TV adverts show Alexa taking control of everyday tasks, controlling a smart vacuum, calling relatives and making purchases. But how does Alexa fare in the workplace, and can we trust her to manage our projects?
Voice is “here to stay” according to Jonathan Midgley, Director of Engineering at Trainline, who added that building a voice app was “a no brainer”.
We caught up with Midgley to ask a few questions about how Trainline is using AI in its products.
Black Mirror might be intent on warning us about the dangers, but artificial intelligence does indeed appear to be taking over our lives.
Most of us seem pretty happy about it though, with voice technology increasingly growing in popularity. According to Kantar Worldpanel, 2.7m households in the UK currently own an Amazon Echo or Google Home device. Across the pond, usage is also on the up, with 55% of US households predicted to own one of these devices by 2020.
Amazon is part of daily life for millions of consumers, especially the tens of millions of households who subscribe to Amazon Prime. But soon, Amazon might quite literally become the nerve center of many of their homes thanks to a new delivery service called Amazon Key.
Voice interfaces are steadily gaining popularity among consumers, so many brands have been quick to start trials with Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices.
At the Festival of Marketing this morning Paddy Power’s product innovation manager, Stephen McMeel, gave an insight into the betting firm’s own experiments with Alexa skills.
In an effort to fight off Amazon, Walmart is making a bold move.
Yesterday, the world’s largest retailer announced that it is teaming up with the world’s largest search engine.
Voice-controlled speakers are one of the primary interfaces through which consumers are interacting with voice-based intelligent personal assistants.
Therefore it’s no surprise that two of tech’s biggest names, Google and Amazon, are battling to control the market for these devices.
Last week, Amazon unveiled the Amazon Echo Look, a new $200 device that allows owners to take full-length photos and videos.
Pitched by Amazon as a “hands-free camera and style assistant,” the Echo Look can be used by owners to create fashion lookbooks and share photos and videos with friends.
Let me start off with a disclaimer.
I am not a voice technology expert, conversational designer or even adept in the area of Alexa skills. This piece is written from a marketing perspective and will I hope, have relevance for marketeers wanting to know more about opportunities in this area.
Imagine if, in the movie Her, just as Joaquin Phoenix’s character feels the pangs of love for his automated personal assistant, Samantha, she had said: “I’m not sure about you, but personally I feel Bank of America offers a very competitive mortgage product for first time buyers.”
Complete mood killer.