In a report released in March, it was said that Google was building a competitor to Amazon's Echo after it had released the OnHub. While the device looked similar to the Echo, it was only a Wi-Fi router and did not support voice commands such as Echo does with Alexa.
Rumors suggested that the Google device will soon become a reality, and a new report lays even more credence to the claim.
Tech news website Recode reported that a team at Google is developing a hardware device, which will be incorporating the company's search and voice assistant platforms, similar to the Amazon Echo. It will look like the OnHub router, but it has no official name yet, and it is expected to be released to the market within the year.
Internally, the hardware is being referred to as "Chirp," and it is expected by Recode's sources that the device will likely not be unveiled at Google's upcoming I/O Conference. The technology that will be powering the hardware, specifically intelligent personal assistance and voice search, will be present at the show, though.
Android users have long enjoyed the OK Google voice assistant technology in Android smartphones, but the company has not yet brought the technology into the smart home setting. If the rumors are true, then the popular Amazon Echo should soon see a rival in a Google device powered by OK Google.
Chirp will also be a very helpful tool for Google to collect more data regarding users while expanding the functionality of OK Google to users even when they are not holding their smartphones. Things that users could do with an OK Google-powered Chirp could include setting alarms, launching web searches, initiating apps and many more.
The digital personal assistant market is heating up. The industry is getting more crowded, as in addition to Amazon's Alexa and OK Google are Apple's Siri and Viv, the platform recently unveiled by the creators of Apple's digital personal assistant.
