Alexa Gadgets: Voice Calls Are Coming to Third-Party

If you want to call Alexa at this point, you will need to use one of the Amazon devices. That's true, though there are countless third-party Alexa devices, including speakers, thermostats, switches, and even robots that portray yoga. In fact, there are nearly 100 devices of this type, against only 10 in late 2016.



That's about to change as the first third-party devices with call and messaging capabilities are under development, said Priya Abani, director of Alexa Voice Service at Amazon, earlier this week.

In a small meeting with journalists at the Amazon Lab126 in Sunnyvale, Calif., Abani, Pete Thompson, vice president of Alexa Voice Services and Chris Hagler, head of product development Echo, describes the process by which not only Amazon develops its Alexa technology , but also makes it available to other vendors who want to integrate the Amazon Voice Assistant into their devices.

Although Amazon has developed the first echo, the company realized that achieving its vision of Alexa anywhere, with the technology enabling it to integrate with other devices, was not made by Amazon.

To do this, Amazon has opened APIs and SDKs for developers, as well as created 11 material reference designs that companies could use as a basis for their products. These ranged from two-microphone configurations to more complex kits with up to eight microphones.

This accelerated the development process, according to Abani. In extreme cases, the Anker Eufy Genie - a low-cost competitor to the Echo Dot - has evolved from development to product in seven months.

Amazon also has a quality assurance lab where products are tested not just for drops and spills, but also for things like microphones to function properly. In a demonstration, a small robot drove on a predetermined path and stopped at various intervals to issue orders to an Alexa device at a table; He used different voices for each test and the results were recorded digitally.



Abani said the results will then be shared with the device manufacturer; Only if a device fails many of these tests will Amazon insist on the changes. However, in most cases, the test is designed to help the device manufacturer optimize the product design or customize the software.

Still, designing Alexa devices is not without its challenges. To date, there are only two devices with screens, and both are made by Amazon: the Echo Show and the Echo Spot. There was also a relatively low interest in the development of video skills; An Amazon search for Echo Show Skills returns only 101 options out of more than 30,000 total abilities.

Alexa could also tackle some of Google's challenges in this area. At this year's CES, the Google Assistant will run on multiple touchscreen Lenovo Smart Display devices. To be fair, Alexa is available on the fire TV TVs, and Amazon recently announced a partnership with Best Buy so many brands Insignia sets and Toshiba have also joined the fire TV interface.

"We're working with some partners to outsource the technology package and make sure it works, and then we can expand it," said Thompson. "But there is no other reason that this is the process we are going through."

Aside from these challenges Amazon's ability to integrate Alexa in most things Google can do with his assistant, one of the reasons he is currently head of the smart home race.

"The growing range of Alexa products, which will be important to a variety of use cases, will be a competitive advantage," said Geoff Blaber, vice president of research for Americas at market research firm CCS Insight, which was also present. at the meeting. "Google and others urgently need to meet the growing demand from Amazon's development department."