Alexa gets more skilled every week and looks toward Europe
Alexa gets more skilled every week and looks toward Europe
Amazon’s voice recognition platform, Alexa, has reached 3,000 skills. The platform has been available for a little over a year in the U.S., providing developers with a way to integrate their services and smart home devices into the Echo, Dot, Tap, and Fire TV.
The Food Network, GE Appliances, Twitter Reader, and KAYAK were a few of the new additions to the Alexa skills.
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“Voice connectivity has a big role in the Internet of Things, as well as in the home,” said GE Appliances vice president, Liz VerSchure. “Integrating our connected appliances with Alexa will help make consumers’ lives easier, more productive and a little more fun.”
In the last few months, Amazon has seen a surge in Alexa interest from developers. It claims that tens of thousands of developers are working on skills for the Echo, Amazon’s flagship voice product, which has apparently exceeded the company’s sales expectations.
Even though Amazon doesn’t disclose sales figures, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners claims it has sold three million Echo speakers so far.
Alexa and her european tour
To push the voice recognition products to even more customers, Amazon also announced an expansion into select European markets.
Austria, Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom will be the first outside the U.S. to receive the Alexa products, which will be available on the company’s store in October. Amazon did not disclose the regional prices for these devices.
Interestingly, Amazon also tweeted a new, cheaper Echo Dot earlier today, but has since deleted the tweet. The tweet said the Dot would cost $ 49.99, but Amazon has not commented or confirmed the Dot.
The cheaper Dot might fit well with Amazon’s voice package, especially for customers that aren’t confident enough to splash hundreds of dollars on a voice recognition device.
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