Amazon Would Have An Alexa Microwave And More On The Way – TechCrunch

About that time last year, Amazon launched a ton of Alexa devices around the world, including Spot and the new Echos. It follows that the company has put something in place for this year, just in time to start the pump before the holidays.

According to a report by CNBC, the retail giant plans to release "at least" eight Alexa devices at an event to be held later this month. The list is certainly varied, with a car gadget, an amplifier, a receiver and a subwoofer. The latter three probably work in tandem and would place the company in direct competition with companies like Sonos.

Ditto for the automobile. Companies like Garmin already offer embedded Alexa products, while manufacturers have started to integrate the wizard into their infotainment systems. This is an interesting tact, as the company seemed more inclined to let others do this heavy job with Alexa lately. Many of the low-cost Echo products look as much like the reference designs as any other concept.

The most interesting part of this group is a voice-activated microwave oven. Certainly, the voice assistant would make sense on this type of appliance – even if a proprietary device would be ambitious for a company that is already a partner of several device manufacturers.

Updates to existing products such as the show could make sense here, especially because Google has increased its gain with a new range of third-party smart screens. The long-awaited high-end HomePod competitor could, perhaps, be under construction as well.