Amazon is rapidly expanding its frontiers, and the next target is the Windows 10 PC. Can the voice-powered Alexa technology make the jump to the desktop. Amazon already has some areas it can leverage its Alexa technology - notably the Kindle Fire tablets and the range of Echo speakers - but a push into Windows 10 represented one of the largest growth opportunities yet for Jeff Bezos’ company.
The initial launch will see Alexa on Windows available on select laptops from Lenovo, HP, Acer, and Asus. No doubt Amazon will be providing affiliate revenue to manufacturing partners who ship Alexa on their hardware. Mayank Pamar reports:
Amazon recently detailed the features of Alexa for PCs on a signup page. Amazon says that Alexa for PC would work just like Echo devices, the PCs with Alexa will support features such as voice commands, Amazon account integration, reminders, news and most importantly, Alexa on PC will let you control your smart home. However, Alexa on PC doesn’t support free voice calls and music services like Spotify, TuneInRadio and Pandora yet.
At this years CES it was clear that voice-powered assistants are the latest trend. Amazon’s Alexa is fighting alongside Google Assistant for primacy in the search world, with both Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s own Cortana sitting in the second tier.
It’s safe to say that Google’s search engine won the text rounds of ‘connecting the internet’ but as technology gets smaller, the interface is changing and many believe that voice is going to be the next major interface. I’m not convinced its going to be the dominant interface - even if Science Fiction has us primed for the voice-powered computer.
With the world’s consumer electronics manufacturers moving to voice control, Amazon is in a key place to be able to provide a turn-key solution and ongoing revenue stream to its partners. The debut of Amazon Alexa on Windows 10 is a key step in pushing Alexa out to pastures new.
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