4 ms·

I don't know that Alexa is in any better of a position than anyone else even given their market share. All you need is a microphone and access to any of many v

by Steeeve 10y ago

I don't know that Alexa is in any better of a position than anyone else even given their market share. All you need is a microphone and access to any of many voice-recognition APIs to build similar functionality. You can build something similar on any phone, laptop, or desktop computer without asking your potential customers to spend a dime. I think the big question is really how big of a market exists for voice control. I don't personally see much of one. Everybody thought it was neat to open netflix up on their xbox/ps4 with voice commands for a day or two, but then most people primarily shifted to using the more reliable controllers. Any question I want answered, I can simply "OK Google..." and have the option of correcting with a keystroke. I can see the potential for a market to be made, but I also see the history. Remember dragon naturally speaking? When you finally got it working great it wasn't actually an improvement in workflow for most people. How many people prefer navigating phone menus via IVR consistently? Voice control is a solvable problem and that makes it attractive for development, but solutions haven't historically been particularly marketable beyond the novelty stage.

ehsankia 10y ago
It should never purely be this or that. I think a combination of both is the best place to be. If I want to watch some specific episode or Youtube video, I generally pull out my phone. If I just want any music, I go "Ok Google, play some music on my TV" as that's faster in that case. If I'm in the kitchen cooking, I'll just go "Ok google, add butter to the shopping list, but if I'm on my computer, I'll open Keep and type it there. Both methods have their advantages, and the awful experiences come out when a user tries to do all of their tasks with either or. As for who is ahead, I strongly disagree with this article. Yes, Amazon had a 2 year start, but Google has had far more years of voice recognition and AI experience. They also have infrastructure for all sorts of things including maps/navigation, translation, search/knowledge graph and just machine learning in general. With Apple, Samsung and Microsoft entering in the digital assistant world too, it'll definitely be a huge competition in the years to come, and the 2 years head start aside, I think Amazon is actually the least well situated for the challenges ahead.

by Steeeve 10y ago

ehsankia 10y ago

It should never purely be this or that. I think a combination of both is the best place to be. If I want to watch some specific episode or Youtube video, I generally pull out my phone. If I just want any music, I go "Ok Google, play some music on my TV" as that's faster in that case. If I'm in the kitchen cooking, I'll just go "Ok google, add butter to the shopping list, but if I'm on my computer, I'll open Keep and type it there. Both methods have their advantages, and the awful experiences come out when a user tries to do all of their tasks with either or. As for who is ahead, I strongly disagree with this article. Yes, Amazon had a 2 year start, but Google has had far more years of voice recognition and AI experience. They also have infrastructure for all sorts of things including maps/navigation, translation, search/knowledge graph and just machine learning in general. With Apple, Samsung and Microsoft entering in the digital assistant world too, it'll definitely be a huge competition in the years to come, and the 2 years head start aside, I think Amazon is actually the least well situated for the challenges ahead.