Amazon wants to release Alexa

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Every day, I use Alexa to turn on my lights, change TV channels and set the timer when cooking. Amazon's digital assistant is the center of my smart home, but once I get out of the house, Alexa might just as well have died for me.

Like many in the United States, I use an iPhone tightly controlled by Apple. Of course, there is an Alexa app that I can use, but I can not call the digital assistant with the standard "Alexa" on my iPhone. So I mainly use this application to modify Alexa settings. The situation is slightly better in the Android world where you can set Alexa as the default device wizard, but you still can not easily call it with a wake up word.

Despite all the progress made by Amazon with Alexa, it is still a voice assistant who lives inside your home, but there are many signs that Amazon wants to release Alexa.

Although last year, the Amazon hardware event includes a microwave powered by Alexa, today's press conference could allow Amazon to completely get out of the house. Reports suggest that Amazon is working on its own Alexa-based headset, a big move outside of the smart home that it dominates. Amazon also stumbled upon the integration of the Alexa car with Echo Auto, but the headsets would be an important way to develop Alexa's use. The headphones would track the distance traveled, the calories burned and the pace, but it is the Alexa integration that will be important here.

Beyond the headsets, Amazon may soon unveil a portable health monitoring group. Bloomberg announced at the beginning of the year that Amazon was working on a bracelet equipped with microphones that can interpret the emotional state of the wearer based solely on their voice. It seems that the device will also include Alexa integration, comparing it to the Apple Watch and Siri as a consumer health device. Amazon has already begun to diversify into virtual healthcare for its own employees. Therefore, the next logical step would be to wear wearable clothing for health-conscious consumers.

Google and Apple are still trying to convince consumers to use digital voice assistants in the real world, but Amazon has the ability to do things differently. Before falling in love with the digital assistant, many social elements must be overcome. We always expect a company to prove that a portable device with a voice assistant is suitable for everyday tasks.

I wear an Apple Watch, which integrates Siri integration, but you will never find me screaming during a daily commute or in a cafe. However, a voice assistant on your helmet at the gym, on a track or even in the car is a situation where the interaction might make more sense to some. The choice of using a voice assistant always depends on the situation, the convenience and the reliability. For example, I would not use Siri in a quiet restaurant to know when the next Arsenal game will be, but I would ask him to skip a track while my hands were busy directing a bike.

In addition to the potential social discomfort of voice assistants, Amazon will also have to resolve many issues with Alexa to bring it beyond the show. One of the biggest is the simple queries. I still find that Google Assistant is far superior to Alexa in meeting the basics of football games, points of interest and other general search queries. Amazon really needs to improve that if it wants people to trust Alexa for anything beyond simple tasks like turning on lights or checking the time that it does.

I use various Echo devices for convenience, but if I want to set a reminder, I will choose Siri rather than Alexa. This is mainly because I know that my iPhone will always be with me, no matter the circumstances, but also because Alexa fixes reminders for each device.

If I call an Echo device at home, I will only hear it on that device or as an alert on my phone. Similarly, if I set a timer, it will only trigger on one speaker. It's such a flawed system that I use Siri and Alexa for different tasks, and I have to remember which one to shout every time. If the rumors are correct, then Amazon is pondering how to free Alexa from its location constraints.

Reports released earlier this year suggest that Amazon is working on a wheeled robot device that can be controlled by Alexa and will follow you throughout your home. A robot can solve some of the problems of the Alexaella which is not with me everywhere (at least until it is overcome by the stairs), but I do not want a robot to follow me in the streets of London. Fortunately, Amazon is also exploring more realistic solutions.

Amazon has unveiled a broad alliance to require the compatibility of voice assistants. It is a partnership of more than 30 different companies that should allow Alexa to speak directly to other voice assistants. We have already seen a similar partnership with Microsoft for the integration of Cortana and Alexa, but the activation of each wizard is not really great.

Amazon sees seamless interoperability as the future of how voice assistants work on all devices, but Apple and Google are two huge omissions among the list of companies involved in the effort. This means that the two largest smartphone platforms in the world will be left behind. If Amazon, Microsoft and others fail to convince Apple and Google to make their platforms more agnostic to voice assistants, it could seriously compromise Alexa's ability to operate freely across multiple devices.

This is especially relevant when you consider Apple's AirPods with the Siri feature and that Google has its own Pixel Buds with Google Assistant integration. Both companies also operate smart watch platforms that Amazon may want to compete with. There are also more than 1.4 billion iOS devices including the integration of Siri and over 2 billion Android devices with access to Google Assistant. These numbers are huge compared to the 100 million Echo devices sold by Amazon, even if everyone does not use voice assistants on their phone.

Amazon is facing huge obstacles if it really wants to release Alexa. All efforts on Apple devices could be further blocked by the iPhone manufacturer's walled-in gardens approach, and even Google's "open" Android platforms and Google's Wear OS do not offer always the level of customization desired by the device manufacturers. So Amazon is now looking for new clothes and new Alexa partnerships to convince consumers that Alexa is not just for the show and can play a role in all your daily tasks.

The Amazon Hardware Event is taking place today in Seattle at 10 am Pacific Time. The edge will cover the event live if you wish to follow.

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