Alexa, be scared – CNET

"What was your favorite thing today?"

I heard the question from at least five different executives from Amazon last month in Seattle when the mega-reseller online presented us with about a dozen new Alexa gadgets. "What has jumped to you?"

All? None of that? I was really not sure. I did not see any new breakthrough, as was the case when Amazon compressed Alexa for the first time. a dot-sized speaker that costs only $ 50. Instead, I saw a jumble of tangents, an echo for everything. Alexa, throw the spaghetti on the wall. Alexa, tell us what is stuck.

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5 interesting Alexa updates (and 5 that do not count)

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To be clear, there is already tomato sauce everywhere in the living room. According to my numbers, Amazon has unveiled 21 – yes, 21! – different Alexa speakers, gadgets and accessories to date, not to mention all Fire tablets equipped with Alexa and Fire TV streamersnor does it take into account the overabundance of third-party Alexa devices not manufactured by Amazon.

Alexa is everywhere and from last summer she accumulates about 70% of the smart speakers market for itself. With only four speakers in its catalog, the 24% of Google remain far behind.

But the numbers can be misleading. This figure of 24% represents a rapid rise for Google, which is still relatively new in the game of smart speakers, having released only its own $ 50 smart speaker, the mini house, one year ago. And, unlike Alexa's global strategy, Google's device lineup, which now offers an attractive, camera-free smart screen, called the reception center – seems to target what consumers really want.

So what happened to me last month? More than anything, it's this: I think Amazon might be worried.

A battlefield material

Amazon has good reason to fear Google, and that's not just because the Home Mini is pretty. Yet the mini Is If you look attractive, and the sound quality is better than that of the last generation, Echo Dot is probably the reason why a growing number of consumers have started to choose Google instead of Amazon for this crucial first purchase smart speakers. As a result, Google quickly began to win Amazon's rearview mirror.

I imagine that an Amazon mumbling anxiously "has to go faster", while he was out of breath his new Alexa devices on us during this blitz in Seattle last month. Much of the new elements simply provides fresh fodder to Amazon's omnipresence offensive (looking at you, Echo clock and Alexa microwave), but the Echo speakers updated – especially the new Echo Dot, more beautiful and more beautiful – seems to be a pure defense game of Alexa's territory against insurgent Google Assistant.

The same can be said of the new second generation Echo Show. Like the previous Echo Dot, the first echo show too utilitarian in its design, especially compared to the superb Google Assistant smart screens Lenovo, JBL and now Google itself with the home hub. With a bigger screen and a much better design, the new Echo Show has corrected these vulnerabilities – but the user interface always late on the intelligent and intelligent design of its competitors powered by Google.

I wondered what these smart screens would show us when the rumors started to indicate that they were going on. Now, I look at them and see the benefits of Google software, clear as day. Here's an example: ask Google something and you'll see your own words appear on the screen when you talk – a visual check of what he or she has heard you and something people have become used to for years . voice assistants on their mobile devices. With Echo Show, you only see Alexa's flashing blue light when you speak. And it does not matter that Echo Show can not search for YouTube using voice commands, or that it can not display a map at all.

Software can always be improved, but it's never a good sign when your redefined operating system lags behind at launch. And, despite the avalanche of ads last month, Amazon did not mention the mini Echo Spot smart display once, which suddenly causes one of his most creative motives.

The timing is terrible too. Just released Google Home Hub is smaller, cheaper – and yes, cuter and Echo Show, all of which are easy-to-understand distinctions for casual shoppers, and a great way to showcase everything the Google Assistant is capable of. It could very well be the smart display point, and a trendy seller in this holiday buying season.

In addition to all this, Google has gained a foothold in the mobile thanks to the range of Pixel smartphones and the fact that Google Assistant comes standard on several other popular Android devices. This is all a way to access the wizard with which Amazon can not match.

Manage

Echo's is largely inspired by science fiction. Internally, Amazon has introduced the product as "a Star Trek computer for your home" and the ambition to turn people's living room into a place closer to a talking spaceship still exists.

"We expect to be about to experience the next major computer disruption," he said. Charlie Kindel, the former director of the smart home of Amazon, Speaking at CEDIA in 2016. "We think the disturbance is about the voice."

Indeed, there is a mini singularity in play here. Dedicated dedicated voice assistants provide quick access to a large number of services that previously required a screen – or, at the very least, our time and attention. Whether you're looking for news and weather, or ordering Uber pizza or pizza, complete voice assistants like Alexa respond to our immediate needs and needs without having to move, to look at anything be it or talk to another human. You hardly need to think. Just ask and receive – a frictionless gateway to almost everything. Alexa, do it.

Call it a convergence if you want, but it's actually a natural evolution of our relationship with the Web. At first we accessed it using computers equipped with noisy remote access modems. Smartphones ushered in the era of the mobile Internet, where we could connect to the cloud with us in our pockets. Now, for those who want it, the Internet is an invisible presence that fills our homes Dot by Dot, Home Mini by Home Mini, always listening to our next question or order.

Amazon and Google are both looking to dominate this nascent age of the Internet. Google has already done so before, it exploded more than 25 years ago claiming its place as the gateway to everything online. Apple has become the Apple we know today by translating this online experience into irresistible mobile devices with an app for everything. The booty goes to the goalies, while Alexa and Google Assistant find themselves facing fierce competition for the last vacancy.

The improvements in artificial intelligence will refine the experience and help these assistants to better anticipate our needs and give us what we ask for – and that's where Google has another key advantage. The search giant has decades of experience reading search queries and routing users to what they want on the web. It is the industry leader in developing artificial intelligence for consumers. Just look Google Duplex, which allows Assistant to talk to other humans on your behalf to reserve a table for dinner or to help chase telemarketers. Alexa can not do anything like that.

Focus, Alexa

Amazon launched the Echo Four years ago, and there would be nothing else on the market until two years later, when Google Home smart speaker arrival. The point of echo enjoyed a year and a half in the market before the Google Home Mini debuts – the echo show had about the same length of time on the Google Home Hub.

And yet, things feel a lot, much closer than market shares suggest. Amazon and Google both have a respectable percentage of customers. Both have the money and momentum to continue to integrate their respective assistants to the general public. Both have attractive entry-level smart speakers that cost $ 50. Both offer smart screens with touch screen. I give Amazon control of the smart home through the variety of third-party Alexa gadgets and the fact that Echo Plus comes with its own Zigbee radio and integrated temperature sensor. But Google has an advantage in itself with the Google Home Max, which offers superior sound with only one speaker that no Amazon Echo speaker can match

And, in the end, it's Google that continues to nibble a share of Amazon's market – and, thanks to the Home Hub, the behemoth of the search has a chance to win its greatest success at the eve of 2018.

All this should make these six months a pivotal period in the wars of voice between these two titans. Amazon is largely on the defensive and probably hopes that new devices like the Echo Sub or Auto Echo can become Alexa's next hit. Meanwhile, Google's vision for the emerging internet is becoming clear at the right time. This, more than anything, should make Amazon very nervous.

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