In the last few years, online retail giant Amazon has expanded its reach far beyond e-commerce. The company developed a splash within the artificial intelligence scene in 2014 while using release of the Amazon Echo, a smart home personal assistant to assist using an ever-expanding selection of tasks. Ordering new household supplies can be as simple as asking “Alexa” to order more sponges, additionally, the Echo is a personalized DJ and smart speaker to fill your home with tunes. Amazon seems invested in expanding the capabilities on the Echo, however, as Alexa’s abilities keep expanding far beyond the thing that was initially offered back in 2014.
At the 2017 CES, Amazon gave us an idea of what to anticipate from the Echo this year. The Echo is going to be integrated with Lenovo’s Smart Assistant, expanding its capabilities and allowing the assistant to operate Lenovo smart home devices. This adds another manufacturer to the brand of smart home devices that Alexa already has control of. Dish Network is also allowing the Echo and Echo Dot to manage its DVR with voice commands, solidifying itself since the first TV company so as to add Echo integration. During the other half of 2017, users is able to “search, navigate and quick-play content around the Hopper DVR hands-free, depending on show titles, actors, genre and channel, when they have a broadband connection plus an Echo or Dot.”
Amazon has sold over 5 million Echo devices since release in 2014, making the device commonplace in several homes. The company is leading the charge towards smart homes becoming the new normal, with sales figures far exceeding similar offerings from your likes of Google.? However, Google Home and Microsoft’s Cortana are developing partnerships with companies as they simply attempt to cut a slice from the smart housing market. Amazon will have to continue to innovate when using the Echo when they want to maintain their control covering the market. While Alexa is obviously impressive, there’s definitely room for improvement. “Alexa” is included in the infancy as a smart home assistant, and this will continue to keep evolve because the Echo becomes a fundamental element of more homes worldwide.
