" - This is for me? “This is for everyone!” Why Amazon Echo could be a bestseller
In early November, the American company Amazon introduced the Echo smart speaker. A voice assistant works on the network, costs $ 200, and claims to be a family member.
The demand for voice assistants has long been a big question. Apple presented Siri three years ago, but since then the advanced assistant has not become a mass phenomenon: most often this system is remembered in the context of such news. In this regard, Google is still worse: a series of commercials on the official YouTube channel leads one to believe that there are a lot of bad actors in our country. The whole procedure of voice help is obviously cumbersome: you need to get a smartphone, turn it with a microphone to your lips, recite a keyword, and then ask a question about the weather or the length of the October Railway. Too much time is spent - you can make a traditional text query much more quickly, especially since the search box is located right on the main screen of Android devices. And Amazon understands this.
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After the monstrous failure of the Fire Phone (minus $ 170 million), the company urgently needed a hit product. Judging by the fact that the first Echo video for three days gained one and a half million views, the “smart” column was really able to interest the audience.
The promo script is primitive: the father comes home with a mysterious box, the daughter asks if the new gadget is meant for her, and the dad says that Echo is bought for the whole family. Then there are three and a half minutes of demonstration of the functions of the “smart” speaker. Echo sends requests to Wikipedia, plays music (even playlists from iTunes), adds events to the calendar, creates to-do lists, tells short jokes and works as an alarm clock.
All this looks extremely natural - as if the question “How high is Everest?”, Addressed to a plastic tube, is an absolutely everyday story. This realism has two explanations. The first is that all family members communicate with Echo; they don’t have to stoop to the microphone and utterly clearly utter a request. The second is that the column should be addressed by name, which can be set by yourself (for example, “Alex”, as in the video), that is, quite humanly, without a robotic “Okeigull”.
Amazon Echo (diameter - 82 millimeters, height - 232 millimeters) is equipped with seven microphones, a broadband radiator, a subwoofer and a phase inverter. In addition, the manufacturer promises omnidirectional sound with rich bass. The gadget quickly connects to your home Wi-Fi-network and immediately starts working after that. From the unusual: Amazon says that over time, the column gets used to the style of speech of each family member and more accurately recognizes the command.
There is no battery (only a cord of a comfortable length), but Bluetooth is present - with its help Echo loads playlists from smartphones and tablets. On the top panel there are two buttons - one responsible for activating the device, and the other for instantly turning off the microphone. The second key is designed for those people who stick a webcam on a laptop and are worried that all their conversations are broadcast to enemy servers.
The main difference between Echo and mobile assistants is stationarity. In the material on Gizmodo, the author calls the intelligent column an excellent gadget for the kitchen or living room: the whole family is often there. Any question that requires a short appeal to the search engine is solved in an instant: it is likely that Echo can be called an accessible attribute of a smart home.
Of course, the first generation of the column has significant drawbacks. The main disadvantage is the lack of a battery: in 2014, carrying a gadget with a wire around the house is too archaic. In addition, since an alarm clock is listed among the stated functions, Amazon assumed that the owners of Echo would have to change the location of the device every evening, and then drag it back to the kitchen or the living room in the morning. Or do they want us to buy by device in each room?
The second unpleasant (for us) moment is language support: Amazon has no relations with Russia, therefore, Russian, if it appears in the list, is very soon. The third claim is the price: for owners of a premium subscription, it will be only $ 100, but ordinary mortals will have to give twice as much. Not everyone is ready to pay out $ 200 for a smart column: many will still prefer to use text search in a smartphone. By the way, Amazon’s pricing policy in Gizmodo is additionally noted: all the company's latest devices (Fire, Voayge Reader, Fire TV) were expensive. Against this background, it is difficult to overestimate the strategic importance of Echo: a “smart” column will either help Amazon get out of the crisis, or it will be another step towards self-destruction.
The American company managed to produce the original and useful gadget, which has no competitors yet. Then it all depends on Amazon: if the bosses of the company rely on Echo and actively develop this product (at the very least, they will add a battery and new languages), the voice assistants will finally become practical and popular.
The demand for voice assistants has long been a big question. Apple presented Siri three years ago, but since then the advanced assistant has not become a mass phenomenon: most often this system is remembered in the context of such news. In this regard, Google is still worse: a series of commercials on the official YouTube channel leads one to believe that there are a lot of bad actors in our country. The whole procedure of voice help is obviously cumbersome: you need to get a smartphone, turn it with a microphone to your lips, recite a keyword, and then ask a question about the weather or the length of the October Railway. Too much time is spent - you can make a traditional text query much more quickly, especially since the search box is located right on the main screen of Android devices. And Amazon understands this.
')
After the monstrous failure of the Fire Phone (minus $ 170 million), the company urgently needed a hit product. Judging by the fact that the first Echo video for three days gained one and a half million views, the “smart” column was really able to interest the audience.
The promo script is primitive: the father comes home with a mysterious box, the daughter asks if the new gadget is meant for her, and the dad says that Echo is bought for the whole family. Then there are three and a half minutes of demonstration of the functions of the “smart” speaker. Echo sends requests to Wikipedia, plays music (even playlists from iTunes), adds events to the calendar, creates to-do lists, tells short jokes and works as an alarm clock.
All this looks extremely natural - as if the question “How high is Everest?”, Addressed to a plastic tube, is an absolutely everyday story. This realism has two explanations. The first is that all family members communicate with Echo; they don’t have to stoop to the microphone and utterly clearly utter a request. The second is that the column should be addressed by name, which can be set by yourself (for example, “Alex”, as in the video), that is, quite humanly, without a robotic “Okeigull”.
Amazon Echo (diameter - 82 millimeters, height - 232 millimeters) is equipped with seven microphones, a broadband radiator, a subwoofer and a phase inverter. In addition, the manufacturer promises omnidirectional sound with rich bass. The gadget quickly connects to your home Wi-Fi-network and immediately starts working after that. From the unusual: Amazon says that over time, the column gets used to the style of speech of each family member and more accurately recognizes the command.
There is no battery (only a cord of a comfortable length), but Bluetooth is present - with its help Echo loads playlists from smartphones and tablets. On the top panel there are two buttons - one responsible for activating the device, and the other for instantly turning off the microphone. The second key is designed for those people who stick a webcam on a laptop and are worried that all their conversations are broadcast to enemy servers.
The main difference between Echo and mobile assistants is stationarity. In the material on Gizmodo, the author calls the intelligent column an excellent gadget for the kitchen or living room: the whole family is often there. Any question that requires a short appeal to the search engine is solved in an instant: it is likely that Echo can be called an accessible attribute of a smart home.
Of course, the first generation of the column has significant drawbacks. The main disadvantage is the lack of a battery: in 2014, carrying a gadget with a wire around the house is too archaic. In addition, since an alarm clock is listed among the stated functions, Amazon assumed that the owners of Echo would have to change the location of the device every evening, and then drag it back to the kitchen or the living room in the morning. Or do they want us to buy by device in each room?
The second unpleasant (for us) moment is language support: Amazon has no relations with Russia, therefore, Russian, if it appears in the list, is very soon. The third claim is the price: for owners of a premium subscription, it will be only $ 100, but ordinary mortals will have to give twice as much. Not everyone is ready to pay out $ 200 for a smart column: many will still prefer to use text search in a smartphone. By the way, Amazon’s pricing policy in Gizmodo is additionally noted: all the company's latest devices (Fire, Voayge Reader, Fire TV) were expensive. Against this background, it is difficult to overestimate the strategic importance of Echo: a “smart” column will either help Amazon get out of the crisis, or it will be another step towards self-destruction.
The American company managed to produce the original and useful gadget, which has no competitors yet. Then it all depends on Amazon: if the bosses of the company rely on Echo and actively develop this product (at the very least, they will add a battery and new languages), the voice assistants will finally become practical and popular.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/362731/
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