by

Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, January 31, 2018

Voice devices in the home continue to evolve and expand with new capabilities being added continually.

Now Amazon has enabled its Alexa digital voice assistant to send text messages through its Echo devices.

The catch is that the messages only work through Android phones, once the messaging capability is activated in the Alexa app in the phone.

As the voice market moves forward, the tough part for some consumers may be in keeping up with which devices does what.

For example, Comcast Xfinity recently increased the capabilities of its TV remote so that voice commands can be used to control smart devices throughout the house.

At CES a few weeks back, LG Electronics launched ThinQ artificial intelligence, allowing its TV remote control to receive voice commands.

GE is marketing voice-enabled ceiling light fixtures, so consumers can speak to voice assistants through their ceiling lights.

Meanwhile, Nuance, the digital voice company, is launching a ‘cognitive arbitrator’ that connects and integrates disparate virtual assistants through a single interface.

While Google’s digital voice assistant Google Home can offer voice access to a world of knowledge, if you ask it to send a text message, it replies: ‘Sorry, I can’t send texts yet.’

Eventually, all the digital voice assistants will pretty much do all the same things, which is pretty much everything.

Until then, consumers will speak in their homes and hope some device understands what it is they want, and then do it.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

(29)