Amazon has unveiled the Amazon Echo, a wireless speaker with Siri-like functions of recognizing its user's speech and answering questions. It is the company's latest contribution to the industry-wide push of making the Internet voice-controlled.
While the Echo's primary usage is for playing back music and providing users with information conveniently, Amazon is hoping that it will also drive retail purchases from the company's website.
The Echo is shaped as a small cylinder that can stream music directly from the Amazon website or through a Bluetooth connection with smartphones and tablets. The Echo also has a set of seven microphones located at the device's top part that can pick up commands being said by its user even while it is playing music.
Users can prompt Echo with the wake-word of "Alexa," as compared to "Siri" and "Okay, Google" in other voice-activated services by Amazon's rivals.
Once Echo has been activated, the device will be able to answer the user's questions and provide information on a broad range of topics, including the news, weather, and anything else that can be looked up on Wikipedia. Users can also control the playback of music and set alarms through voice controls.
However, one function of Echo that could be the most significant for Amazon is its shopping lists feature that allows users to make such lists solely by voice.
With such a feature, Amazon is moving closer to a comprehensive "no-click" shopping system for its products. It already has somewhat of a system in place with Dash, a device offered by Amazon to customers of its Prime Fresh grocery delivery service that utilizes a microphone and barcode scanner to add items to the user's order.
Neither the Dash nor Echo can actually place the orders yet, as they are limited to only setting up the order lists. However, that possibility is surely in the horizon for Amazon.
The Dash is free, but the Echo will cost $199. However, the price will be slashed down to $99 for Amazon Prime customers, which are those that already make significant purchases on Amazon.
The Echo is only available through invitation for now, so the general public will have to wait to get their hands on this device.
The device is looking to make homes take a step towards becoming the homes of the future, with voice-controlled functions. Something that's creepy about Echo though is that it can hear voices from any person within the room where it's in, like a perpetual eavesdropper. Since it is always connected to the Internet, Echo is always ready to be activated and used by the people around the home.
