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The Smart Speaker Marketplace
Copyright 2021, Faulkner Information
Services. All Rights Reserved.
Docid: 00021077
Publication Date: 2111
Report Type: MARKET
Preview
Some of the hottest areas of technological development in recent years have
included artificial intelligence (AI), cloud-based computing, home automation,
and the Internet of Things (IoT). At the intersection of all of these categories
are smart speakers. Having sprung from the creation of AI assistants
for mobile and desktop platforms, smart speakers have risen to the forefront
of voice-controlled, Internet-connected digital assistants. They serve as
gateways to those aforementioned technologies, allowing users to
interact with them in ways that would have seemed fantastic just a few years
ago. While users were
once limited to whipping out their smartphone to chat with the likes of Siri or
Google Assistant, they can now use these
digital personas – and others – in their own home and elsewhere via a growing number of smart speakers. This report
will examine the current definition of a smart speaker, the capabilities on
offer from current models, and where this area of technology might find itself
in the future. It will also examine some of the leading brands and products
currently on the market in this category.
Report Contents:
What Is a Smart Speaker?
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The fact that this product category has come to be called "smart speakers" seems to have happened by default. As most
of these offerings
physically resemble a speaker with extra lights or controls, the term
merely describes the appearance of many of the products in the simplest
terms possible. It is, however, the "smart" part of the name that makes smart
speakers such an important – even revolutionary – development. This portion of the name refers to the fact that smart speakers are all
tied to platforms designed around artificially intelligent digital assistants.
Whether connected to Apple’s Siri, Amazon's Alexa, the Google Assistant, or others, all smart
speakers have a companion AI that powers their ability to recognize and process
human speech commands and to respond to those commands with the appropriate
replies or actions.
These are the specific
characteristics and defining features of a smart speaker.
- Voice Recognition – This is the first capability all
smart speakers must have and the one that makes all of its other activities
possible. All smart speakers accept input via human speech. For most units,
the user can say an activation word or phrase, such as "Alexa" to a device
in the Amazon Echo line, or "OK, Google" to the Google Assistant. This will
"wake" the speaker, or prime it to accept whatever command or query the user
wishes to enter. These commands or questions are recorded and processed
both on-site and via the cloud-based processing that each currently available
smart speaker employs. Although it may not be immediately apparent, network
connectivity is used not only to retrieve answers and issue commands to
remote services but it is also an important part of the processing of
speech input. In fact, much of the analysis and translation of voice input
into usable commands occurs on networked servers, not on the smart speaker
itself. Because of this, all smart speakers must also support the next
characteristic. - Internet Connectivity – Because networked servers are
needed to process voice commands and require network
connectivity to interact with other smart home and IoT devices, all smart
speakers include Internet connectivity. This typically comes in the form of
a built-in Wi-Fi module that allows the speaker to connect to the user’s
wireless router and, through it, other in-home devices and the Web.
For example, an Amazon Echo speaker can use its built-in Wi-Fi radio to
connect to home automation devices like a Philips Hue Hub that adjusts lighting
preferences, while it can also use Wi-Fi to contact Domino’s Pizza to place
a meal order over the Internet. Like voice recognition, Internet
connectivity is at the root of all other actions a smart speaker can take.
Even something as simple as setting a timer or alarm is handled via the Web,
in order to allow for interactivity with companion apps and platforms. These
first two characteristics of smart speakers make all the
following capabilities possible. - The Ability to Answer Queries – All smart speakers can
answer a varying range of user queries. Although the breadth and depth of
the queries varies greatly (a fact that will be
covered in more depth below), they all share the ability to respond to a few
of the most common questions typically addressed to personal digital assistants
since their smartphone debut: sports scores,
weather forecasts, stock quotes, time queries (including alarms and timers),
and calendar events are the leading items requested. However, most smart speakers and their companion AIs
can go beyond these basic responses by tapping into their platform’s database of information. While each manufacturer curates
its
own database of facts from which the AI can draw, many also connect their
smart speakers to well-known sources of information such as Google’s
Knowledge Graph, Wikipedia, the Wolfram Alpha search engine, and more. This
greatly expands the information a smart speaker can present to include an
amazing number of facts. However, questions that can verifiably be answered by modern
smart speakers include everything from a given celebrity’s birthday, to a
short bio on Theodore Roosevelt, to a synopsis of an upcoming film, to the
height of the Eiffel Tower, to the date of the next solar eclipse visible in
the US. The list goes on and on, and keeps growing on a daily basis as more and
more data is fed into the databases powering these AI assistants. - Connected Services – As with the example of ordering a
pizza from Domino’s, most actions that involve any third-party product
or service accessed through a smart speaker are known as connected services.
This can be somewhat confusing, as some companies call these third-party
interaction points by a different name such as Amazon’s "Alexa Skills."
However, connected services refers to any platform, service, or product produced by a
company other than the smart speaker’s maker that is connected to or capable
of interacting with a smart speaker. The number
of such services available to smart speaker owners is so large that it would be
impossible to provide examples of all options. However, they tend to fall primarily within a few categories.- Retail – This includes things like ordering products via an Amazon
Alexa speaker, sending flowers to friends or family, the aforementioned
pizza order, or any service that allows users to purchase a product or
service using their voice via a smart speaker. - Communications – This refers to the ability to send messages, reply
to a notification, and receive information from third party services.
Examples would include getting an audio explanation when your online
order has shipped, replying to an email message via voice, or even
placing a phone call (supported on some models). - Remote Control – This is a borderline case and could very easily
fall within the next category of major smart speaker characteristics.
However, remote control capabilities refer to the ability of smart
speakers to directly control other devices or services within the user’s
home and in the cloud. Examples would be controlling the user’s TV via a
connected Logitech Harmony Hub, displaying a remote camera feed on the
user’s screen from a Nest Cam, or adjusting climate controls. As stated
above, some may lump this in with the next category, smart home
functionality.
- Retail – This includes things like ordering products via an Amazon
- Smart Home and Home Automation Functionality – This
category takes the aforementioned aspects of remote control capabilities and
expands it to control a wider variety of devices and to interact with
them in more complex ways. For example, rather than simply telling a
Phillips Hue Hub to turn on a light, the user can tell a smart speaker to
set that Hub to turn all of their lights on right then, or when they arrive
at home on a given day. The latter task would apply location data from
the user’s smartphone as well as the parameters of the task previously
arranged with third party services like IFTTT (formerly known as If This
Then That), which allows electronic events to be triggered when certain
criteria are met. In this case, the command would be "If I enter the home,
turn on all the lights." However, the user could activate this entire
scenario by simply telling their smart speaker to activate their "weeknight
lighting profile." Yes, several other services and devices are involved in
the process, but the smart speaker is still the primary interaction point
through which the user is able to control and modify these actions.
Although the above characteristics provide a good cross-section of the
capabilities and functions of a modern smart speaker, the product category is
still developing so these could easily be expanded to areas that have not yet
even been dreamed of.
Current Smart Speaker Brands and Platforms
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This section will examine the current top manufacturers in the smart speaker
market, along with their primary product lines and the platform currently
powering their smart speakers. Each smart speaker maker will be described in
detail and will have the strengths and weaknesses of its platform analyzed
along with the parameters of each of its most dominant smart speaker products.
These are the top competitors in the market, in no particular order.
Platform – Although not the first entrant into the smart
speaker market, Google was among the pioneers of artificially intelligent
digital assistants. Its Google Now AI launched several years ago, providing
early Android users with access to the selection of voice-controlled
functionality that has become the norm for any mobile platform. Although that
platform has since been replaced by the simply-named Google Assistant, its DNA
lives on in its successor, with full support for natural-language input of
queries and requests on a vast variety of topics and utilizing a massive number
of third-party services and devices. Requests that the platform can field range
from as simple as weather forecasts to as complicated as
mathematical calculations, or making reservations at the user’s favorite
restaurant. Google has designed the assistant to fulfill its role in every
possible way, serving as a digital concierge for the user’s day-to-day life by
controlling the user’s network, electronics, calendaring, and meeting informational needs.
Strengths
- Google Device Ecosystem – As a manufacturer of smart
speakers, streaming media peripherals, and a mobile device operating system,
Google has an almost unmatched capacity to provide interconnectivity between
the customer’s smart speakers, smartphones, and televisions. This
allows users to request that their smart speaker "cast" a video to their TV
set if that set is Chromecast-enabled or equipped with one of the
company’s Chromecast streaming video dongles. At the time of writing, users
of any of Google’s smart speakers could cast videos from YouTube, Netflix,
CBS, Disney+, and many others by simply saying something along the lines of "OK, Google. Cast
cat videos from YouTube to my Living Room TV." In a similar vein, Android
users have several options for interconnectivity between their mobile
devices and Google Home smart speakers. These include the option to ring a
lost device by requesting help finding it from a Google Home speaker;
sharing contacts between the user’s mobile device and the smart speaker in
order to make phone calls; and setting reminders on the Google
Home speaker line that will later appear on the user’s mobile device at the
appointed time. This ecosystem was further expanded when Google
acquired home automation company Nest. Since that time, the Nest brand name
has been slowly replacing all Google-branded smart home and smart speaker
products. - Natural Language Input – One of the strengths of the
Google Assistant touted by many reviewers is its ability to
understand and process natural language queries and requests. Google itself has frequently used this fact in its TV ads, comparing the
conversational requests made possible by the Google Assistant with the
robotic ones it claims are required for correct recognition by its
competitors. Although the veracity of these claims are arguable, tests have
shown that the Google Assistant, which powers all current Google Home smart
speakers, is better at recognizing accents and natural speech than either
Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri.1 While the exact winner in this
area of smart speaker operation may remain somewhat debatable, Google is
certainly among the best at correctly recognizing voice input. - Query Responses – It is not only important that a smart
speaker be able to understand the user but also that it be able to respond
with true and correct answers to their questions and requests. The ability
to answer factual questions is where the Google Assistant shines. In a test
conducted by research group Stone Temple, the Google Assistant soundly beat
its competition, correctly answering 90.6 percent of the questions posed to
it. Its closest competitor, Alexa on the Amazon Echo, was only able to
respond correctly to 87 percent of the 5,000 questions used in the test.
Microsoft’s Cortana came in third with 81.9 percent, while Apple’s Siri was
dead last with just 62.2 percent of questions having been answered
correctly.2 The reason for Google’s success in this test is
twofold: first, it’s aforementioned ability to correctly recognize and
process natural language, and second, its access to the Google Knowledge
Graph, the same massive informational database that powers the query results
of the company’s monolithic search engine. These factors combine to provide
one of the best AIs in the world for answering general knowledge questions.
Weaknesses
- Third Party Device and Service Support – Although
Google’s Nest Home speakers are able to interact with a wide range of devices and
services, they simply cannot match the range of products and services that
are supported by their closest competitor, Amazon’s line of Alexa-enabled
speakers. When comparing the two platforms, The Wirecutter pointed to the
two-year head start that Amazon had over Google in the smart speaker market.3
It believes that this extra time resulted in a vastly superior number of
relationships and alliances to bring third-party access to the Alexa
platform. That said, Google is still the only company within this space that
even comes close to matching Amazon, an admirable position to be in. - Commitment to a Mobile Platform – This is a direct
counterpoint to the strength of Google’s device ecosystem mentioned above.
Where Amazon can remain platform agnostic when interacting with mobile
devices, Google essentially has to prioritize Android over iOS. This means
that Apple users may never achieve comparable results while using the Google’s
Nest Home line
of speakers as their Android-using counterparts. They can still use much of
the functionality thanks to the presence of the Google Search app on iOS,
but the base-level interactivity provided by the Android-to-Google Assistant
symbiosis is simply unmatched when any other mobile platform is thrown into
the mix.Figure 1. Google’s Newest Smart Speaker, the Nest Audio.
Source: Google
Currently Available Smart Speakers
Nest Audio – The Nest Audio is Google's latest take on a
smart speaker that emphasizes the speaker portion of its job. The company claims
the unit offers "room-filling sound through both its onboard hardware (a 75mm
woofer paired with a 19mm tweeter), and its ability to connect to multiple Nest
Audio units to provide stereo sound. This capability is designed to allow the
Nest Audio to be used as a sort of one-stop Hi-Fi system by simply placing two
or more of the unit in a given room. While the functionality was not available
at the time of writing, Google is also heavily rumored to be prepping a way for
the Nest Audio to connect with its Chromecast ecosystem of streaming TVs and
dongles. This would make it possible for one, or more likely a pair, of the
smart speakers to serve as a home theater audio solution, much like the
increasingly popular soundbar product category.
- Speakers – 75mm woofer and 19mm tweeter
- Wireless connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5Ghz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
5.0 support - Manufacturer’s suggested retail price – $99
Nest Mini (2nd Gen) – Like the Google Home, the original
Google Home Mini was launched as a direct answer to the success of an Amazon
product, in this case the Echo Dot. This kicked off the first generation of
competition among a new budget-minded category of smart speakers. These devices
were designed to provide a low-priced way of accessing the respective digital
assistants of Google and Amazon, with some sacrifices being made in the hardware
parameters of each device compared to their predecessors. The primary victim of
these cost-saving measures, in the case of the Google Home Mini, was its
speakers, which were reduced in size and sound quality. However, its ability to
match the query response ability of its larger, much more expensive cousin
seemed to immediately appeal to customers who were not particularly concerned
with sound quality. After several years on the market, the Google Home Mini was
replaced by the Nest Mini, a device that was nearly identical in external
physical characteristics. However, it featured several internal upgrades, such
as enhanced speakers with twice the bass of its predecessor, improved voice
recognition for distant users, and support for the latest Google Assistant
capabilities. This too was eventually replaced by a second generation Nest Mini
with enhancements such as far-field microphones, better support for voice
matching technology, and other internal hardware improvements.
- Speaker – A single 40mm driver
- Wireless connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5Ghz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
5.0
support - Manufacturer’s suggested retail price – $29
Figure 2. Nest Hub Max
Source: Google
Google’s Nest Hub (2nd Gen) and Nest Hub Max – The Google Home Hub was the
company’s first entry into the product
category to attempt to directly compete with the likes of the
Echo Show with a first-party offering. Third party manufacturers like Lenovo had
already offered smart displays powered by the Google Assistant for some time.
However, this first-party unit combined the usability of the Assistant with a
very high level of home automation control. Not only could the device provide
the usual range of audio cues while controlling smart home peripherals, but it
also offers a variety of on-screen controls for things like streaming audio
equipment, thermostats, lighting, remote cameras, and more. Since its release,
that device has been superseded by the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max. Both devices
service essentially the same purpose as their predecessor, serving as in-home
communication and control hubs for all members of a household and all smart home
devices. The Nest Hub is essentially identical to the Google Home Hub, offering
a smaller display and speaker array. Meanwhile, the
Nest Hub Max adds a front-facing camera for video chat. Since their original
launch, the smaller Nest Hub has been updated. Improvements included smarter
hands-free controls, new compatibility with third party devices, and other
internal improvements.
Nest Hub
- Speaker – Single "Full Range" speaker
- Wireless connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5Ghz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
5.0 support - Manufacturer's suggested retail price – $99
Nest Hub Max
- "Full Range" speaker and woofer
- Wireless connectivity – 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5Ghz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
5.0 support - Manufacturer's suggested retail price – $229
Amazon
Platform – Amazon was arguably the founder of the smart
speaker market, and it shows. The company’s original Echo launched into a
non-existent product space, giving it the unenviable task of creating its
own market and own demand from nothing. Not only did it accomplish this, but it
made such an impact that tech giants like Google and Apple immediately rushed in
to grab their piece of the smart speaker pie. The primary reason for this
success was Alexa, Amazon’s personal digital assistant. Unlike Siri and Google
Now/Google Assistant, Alexa was born, first and foremost, to be a smart speaker
AI. However, she drew many of her capabilities from its competition, with the ability to provide answers to the typical range of questions as well as the ability to interact with third-party apps,
services, and products. As mentioned above, Amazon’s headstart in the smart
speaker market has allowed it to form the largest number of relationships and
alliances of any manufacturer, providing its users with the widest range of
third-party interactivity. While Google and Apple may feel differently, many
consumers still see Alexa as the gold standard for in-home digital assistants.
Strengths
- Massive Number of Skills – As stated above, Amazon has
the longest history in the market of any company on this list. This has
allowed it to form the largest number of relationships and alliances in
order to create interaction between its Alexa platform and third party
products and services. These functions, called "skills" by Amazon, allow an
Echo speaker to complete tasks such as turning connected lights on and off,
placing orders with a third-party retailer, or sending data between the
smart speaker and any other company’s app, product, service, etc. A 2019
report placed the number of available Alexa skills at more than 56,000
having doubled within just the previous year.4 The
reason why Amazon was able to build this list of allies so quickly is because
of its extremely open relationship with developers and its lack of any
particular allegiance to existing mobile or desktop operating systems.
Unlike Google and its reliance on Android, or Microsoft and its obvious
preference for Windows, Amazon has no OS to which it is beholden. This means
that devs can comfortably form a relationship without any chance of
alienating a competing OS maker. The success of the Alexa platform is
obviously much more complex than this, but Amazon’s welcoming attitude
towards third-party interactivity is still at the heart of it. - Retail Access – Although nearly all of the platforms
here support some level of ability to order from retailers via their voice
controls, Amazon exceeds any of these by allowing users to purchase items
from their monolithic online store via Alexa. This includes initial orders
of products as well as the ability to quickly re-order any product the user
has previously purchased. This is possible due to Amazon’s storage of user
payment and shipping info; any order placed via voice can
automatically be processed with just the name of the product and a
confirmation from the user that the order was intentional. Thanks to the
breadth of offerings available from Amazon.com, it is possible
for users to order nearly anything they want, without ever having to
open a laptop or pick up a smartphone. Even digital offerings can be
procured via Alexa and immediately enjoyed by using the same smart speaker
that ordered them. - Range of Devices – Amazon’s time in the smart
speaker market has not only allowed its third-party relationships to flourish, but also
allowed the company to expand well beyond the initial smart speaker format that other
entrants into the product category are still working with. Building on the
success of the Echo and Echo Dot, Amazon has created unique and unusual
variants designed specifically for more specialized tasks. From the Echo
Show’s ability to serve as a video phone, to the Echo Look’s role as a
fashion-conscious companion, Amazon has reached the point where the Echo
brand can begin diversifying into specialized areas that competing platforms
may take years to enter. The company has even recently experimented with
incorporated Alexa into products as unusual as a smart ring or eyeglasses. Amazon is
also one of the only
entrants on this list that allows its AI to appear entirely on third party
devices. This includes other smart speakers, such as the Sonos One, as well
as non-smart speaker products, like HTC smartphones, the iMCO CoWatch, and
the Garmin Speak GPS unit for automobiles. The success of
the Alexa platform is no long directly limited by the success of the smart
speaker market, but can now flourish via other product categories as well.
Weaknesses
- Lack of Factual Answers – Going back to the
aforementioned study of Google Assistant versus Alexa on the basis of
providing correct general knowledge answers, Amazon is certainly at a
deficit.5 Google quite simply has access to more information than
almost any other single entity in the world. This has allowed its Knowledge
Graph to grow to almost science fiction proportions. On top of the sheer
scope of Google’s information sources, the company had also been curating
the Knowledge Graph for many years before smart speakers or even personal
digital assistants had reached the market. This foresight allows Google
Assistant to provide
the single best experience for users looking up factual info. Although
Amazon was a relatively close second in the Stone Temple test, it
definitely has some catching up to do in this area. Meanwhile, Google will
continue to grow and expands its own assets, making this a difficult race
for the competition. - Lack of a Native Companion OS – This is another case of
a single aspect of an entrant to this list being both a blessing and a
curse. While Amazon’s lack of allegiance to any single desktop or mobile OS
allows it to split the lanes, so to speak, of the smart speaker market, it
also results in an AI platform that does not have the same level of root
access to a desktop or mobile OS. Where the Google Assistant can tap into
its interactivity with Android to provide reminders, alarms, and other
functions via the user’s smartphone (the same goes for Apple’s HomePod and
iOS), Amazon’s Alexa can do something
similar only by using its own companion app, which must be manually installed on
the user’s device. Although
Amazon did make a brief appearance in the smartphone market with its Fire
Phone, the company has shown no subsequent interest in developing another
fork of the Android OS, let alone its own mobile OS.
Currently Available Smart Speakers
Figure 3. The Amazon Echo Dot (Fourth Generation)
Source: Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot (Fourth Generation) – While Amazon does not,
at the time of writing, offer a standard Echo, the Echo Dot line has been
elevated to be a direct, more budget-friendly replacement for that unit. The
third generation of the dot, which remains on sale and is covered below, has
been repositioned as the company's cheapest stand-alone smart speaker, while its
former position has been combined with the standard echo by its successor. The
Fourth Generation Echo Dot keeps its predecessor's digital clock, while adapting
it to a new, spherical design, leaving behind the "puck" shape which has been
the trademark of the Dot line since its inception. Despite being a diminutive
offering at under four inches in diameter, the newest Dot still delivers,
according to Amazon, "crisp vocals and balanced bass for full sound." It does
this while maintaining all of the capabilities of the previous dot, while adding
a new 1.6-inch speaker for fuller sound. It also comes equipped with a 3.5mm
connection for those wishing to add external sound output devices.
- Speaker – Single 1.6-inch speaker
- Wireless connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi supports 802.11 a/b/g/n/c (2.4 and
5 GHz) and Bluetooth - Price – $49.99
Figure 4. The Amazon Echo Dot (Third Generation)
Source: Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot (Third Generation) – Following the success of the Echo, Amazon
briefly tested the interest in a smaller, lower-cost alternative by
launching an invite-only chance to acquire the original Echo Dot. This
short-lived version was produced in small numbers and was never made
publicly available without restrictions. The short time in which the device
sold out told Amazon all it needed to know, and this trial run was quickly
followed up by the launch of the second Echo Dot,
and, subsequently by the newer, third gen Echo Dot, seen above. Like
the original Google Home Mini, which it most assuredly inspired, the Echo Dot is a
low-cost, entry-level way to gain access to a smart speaker and its
corresponding platform. However, unlike the now-discontinued Google Home Mini, which only
supported Bluetooth audio, the Echo Dot also ships with a 3.5mm audio output
jack. Where Google reserves this feature for its more expensive Google Home Max,
the bargain basement Echo Dot can be hooked up to literally any speaker system
with the appropriate input. The result is an extremely inexpensive option for
access to a personal digital assistant that can still provide excellent sound
quality when paired with a user’s existing audio equipment. The latest
generation of the device also features a rudimentary display, allowing it to
serve as an alarm clock, display countdown timers, and even provide basic
weather info. The Third Generation dot remains on sale despite its successor
having been launched, with its price now having been dropped to make it the
cheapest option for those wanting an entry-level, Alexa-based smart speaker.
- Speaker – 1.6-inch mono speaker
- Wireless connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi supports 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and
5 GHz) and Bluetooth - Price – $29.99
Figure 5. The Amazon Echo Show 8
Source: Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 8 – The success of the Echo Show 5 (seen
below) spawned another successor in the Echo Show 8. This larger device tries to
be big enough to realistic serve as a way to provide a media consumption
display, without being so large it rivals a TV or PC monitor. Amazon has also
positioned the Show 8 as an ideal smart home hub, offering motion-sensing
capabilities for controlling lights and utilities, as well as a video chat powerhouse thanks to its 13MP front-facing camera that can pan and zoom based on
user positions and distance.
- Speaker – A single 2-inch 52mm driver with bass radiator.
- Wireless connectivity – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Bluetooth
- Price – $99.99
Figure 6. The Amazon Echo Show 5
Source: Amazon
Amazon Echo Show – Attempting to once again innovate within
the smart speaker product category, the Echo Show arrived as a first-of-its-kind
hybrid device, including both a smart speaker and a 7-inch touchscreen display.
The display on the Echo Show could be used to provide additional information about
any of the typical queries an Echo receives; could be used to place and receive
video calls between itself and other Echo Show units or users with a smartphone
and the Alexa App; and display videos. The most successful entry in the line, the Echo
Show 5, has all of those features, while coming in a form factor that was
clearly designed to be the ideal size to serve as a bedside smart speaker/ alarm
clock. On top of this, the unit costs a fraction of the original Echo Show’s
$229.99 price tag, launching at just $89.99 and later falling to $54.99. This
makes it a much more likely option to come to populate the bedside tables of
more budget-minded adults, and even children. Because of this likely placement,
Amazon included a hardware-based cover for the unit's video camera, making it
impossible for malicious parties to accidentally or purposely access any user's
private video feed if that cover is closed. The company also continues to sell a
larger Amazon Echo Show 8, seen above, which is designed to compete with the like of the
Nest Hub as a living room smart speaker, and the Echo Show 10, seen below. The
retailer has also revealed plans for an Echo Show 15, designed to be usable as a
wall-mounted display. This unit is geared towards replacing the bulletin board
or fridge as the place to leave messages, keep calendars, and more. It is
expected to launch in late 2021 for $249.
- Speaker – A single 1.7-inch front-facing speaker (Show 5) ; two 2-inch
speakers (Show 8) - Wireless connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi supports 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and
5 GHz) and Bluetooth (both models) - Price – $89.99 (Show 5) : $129.99 (Show 8)
Figure 7. The Amazon Echo Show 10
Source: Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 10 – The newest member of the Echo Show
family has not even gone on sale at the time of writing. However, Amazon has
revealed numerous details about the device, illustrating a unit that is strongly
focused on family life and video chat. The unit includes its eponymous 10-inch
display situated in what may at first appear to be an odd configuration atop a
more traditional, cylindrical Echo speaker. The reason for this orientation
becomes clear when using the device for video chat, as the display is able to
track the user's movements around the room, rotating in order to keep them in
frame during a video call. Amazon uses the example of a busy mom making
breakfast while connecting with relatives, all the while staying in the shot as
she moves around the kitchen. In a similar vein, this rotation can also allow
the device to serve as a home surveillance camera, with the user controlling its
direction via the Alexa app, allowing them to monitor their homes from anywhere
with an active Internet connection. Aside from these new feature, the Echo Show
10 also supports all of the same voice-based capabilities as all other Echo
units, as well as the streaming video services supported by Amazon (Netflix,
Hulu, Prime Video, and others). While the unit was up on Amazon's site at the
time of writing, the company had not included a price or official release date
yet.
- Speaker – two 1-inch tweeters and a single 3-inch woofer
- Wireless connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi supports 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and
5 GHz) and Bluetooth - Price – Unknown
Other Amazon Alexa-Enabled Devices
While the above Echo products represent the entire core Echo line of smart
speakers at the time of writing, there are many other first-party devices made
by Amazon that also make use of Alexa in some fashion.
- The Echo Auto – This device is Amazon’s first crack at competing with
the likes of Apple and Google to be the smart assistant of choice while on
the road. The diminutive unit is designed to connect to a user’s in-car
speaker system, while using their smartphone or mobile hotspot for
connectivity. The result is a full-featured equivalent to the Echo Dot which
can be permanently installed in the owner’s car. - The Echo Look – This was, by far, Amazon’s most laser-focused version of
a smart speaker to date. The Echo Look was designed to serve as a user’s
personal fashion assistant and coach. It used a built-in depth sensing
camera and LED lighting to take daily images of the user’s outfits and
fashion choices. These could then be used to create a "personal look book" or
to help the user plan their future fashion statements. While its potential
to drive retail sales for Amazon.com were obvious, the model never appeared
to catch on, and is now out of production - Fire TV – Amazon’s streaming video peripheral has, for the past several
generations, had access to Alexa. This began with a simplified version that
could only interact directly with the company’s streaming video offerings,
but has since been expanded to the full-bore version of Alexa that can be
found running on the core smart speaker line. Interaction is handled via the
Fire TV remote, with responses being supplied as both audio and on-screen
replies. - The Fire TV Cube – This unit closely mirrors the aforementioned Fire TV
for streaming media functionality, but adds most of the functionality of the
original Echo line to that package. It also includes an IR blaster, allowing
it to serve as a voice-activated universal remote. - Fire Tablets – Amazon’s popular line of Amazon Fire Tablets also now
supports Alexa. The level of support varies by model, with some older and
cheaper devices requiring the user to manually tap in order to talk to
Alexa. However, the latest generations of the company’s slates features the
same always-on voice commands as the smart speaker line, allowing the
tablets to essentially fulfill the same role as an Echo or Dot. - Echo Buds – A pair of truly wireless earbuds with one-touch or
voice-based access to Alexa. - Echo Frames – A pair of eyeglass frames that could be equipped with
tinted or prescription lenses that have built-in audio hardware allowing the
wearer to tap touch-sensitive sections to chat with Alexa. - Echo Loop – An Alexa-enabled ring that was designed to allow the user to
issue commands by talking into their hand, and to hear audio responses via a
combination of haptic feedback and a tiny speaker that can be heard when
held near the user’s ear. - Amazon Astro – A small robot with a built-in camera and display. This
unit was created to serve as a home helper that can provide whole-home
monitoring and serve as a digital assistant and way to access the Alexa
platform anywhere it can roll. It remains unclear if it will ever enter full
production. - The Alexa App – Unlike other smart speaker companion apps, the Alexa App
includes access to Alexa herself. However, the usability of this access is
somewhat limited by the fact that the app must be manually opened and the voice
command button must be tapped before the user can begin issuing commands or
queries. However, this provides any smartphone-connected user with the option to
interact with smart speakers and Alexa-enabled devices even when away from
the home. This function includes the ability to make and receive voice and
video calls to other app users as well as to the Echo and Echo Dot (voice)
and Echo Show and Echo Spot (video).
Apple
Platform – Despite the fact that Apple’s Siri is one of the
oldest digital assistants in use today, the company still struggles to
match the versatility and accuracy of Google’s and Amazon’s entrants, as
evidenced by the aforementioned Stone Temple study. While she may not represent
the most intelligent of AIs, Siri has earned a place as something of a mascot
for
the rise of personal digital assistants. This is likely due to both the age of
the platform as well as the sheer prevalence of iOS and Mac OS in the day-to-day lives of most people. Siri is also somewhat unique on this list as being the
only AI to appear natively as part of a major mobile OS and desktop OS. Although
Microsoft’s Cortana can be added to iOS or Android and was part of the now
defunct Windows Phone platform, she does not have anywhere near the user base or
adoption rates that Siri has. With all of this said, Siri is still more than
capable enough to handle all of the most common tasks set to most personal
digital assistants, including the usual range of alarms, calendar events,
measurement conversions, and more. Perhaps even more importantly, Siri is
particularly well tailored to accessing media provided by Apple’s slate of
streaming and local entertainment apps and services. This is extremely important
given the focus the company has placed on sound quality with its decision to
enter the smart speaker market at the very high end of the current pricing by
building an extremely high-quality sound system into its HomePod speaker. It has
since launched the HomePod mini to try to appeal to more budget-conscious users
as well.
Strengths
- Recognizability – Siri is arguably the most well-known
of the current batch of personal digital assistants. While Amazon’s Alexa
may be quickly approaching the same status of being a household name, Siri
has a multi-year headstart to draw upon. This may seem relatively
unimportant in the grand scheme of things, as users would appear to value
functionality over personality. However, the fact that the Google Assistant
does not bear a human name has widely been pointed to as one of the reasons
why it has never achieved the same level of recognition as Siri or Alexa,
despite the fact that it is just as capable – if not more so – than either
competitor. - The iTunes Media Empire – Like Amazon, Apple is a major
player in the streaming media industry. This is thanks to its iTunes, Apple
Music, and other streaming media offerings. Users have been tapping into
these services for more than a decade, making them some of the
longest-running media storefronts still in operation today. The result is
that many customers that have been Apple adherents over the past ten years
have amassed a huge collection of music that is largely tied to the Apple
ecosystem. Although Apple’s DRM and usage restrictions may not be as
all-encompassing as they once were, the simple effort required to port music
purchased from iTunes to another platform is enough of an obstacle to stop
many users from going through with any third-party transitions. Until the
reveal of the HomePod, users who wished to listen to their library of iTunes-based
music were limited to multi-device solutions such as iPhone docks or
Bluetooth speakers. However, with the launch of the HomePod, iTunes faithful
will, for the first time, be able to access their full library of purchases
on a first-party smart speaker without the need to port their purchases to any other
platform. - The Apple Factor – As a company, Apple has built up an
almost intangible mystique as being "the best" at any given product
category. Although this form of blind admiration often tends to fall apart upon
closer examination, the company retains a reputation for
producing "prestige" products, or devices that users want everyone to know
they own. This has, arguably, allowed Apple to charge a premium for their
devices over similarly capable products from third parties and has allowed
the company to retain and grow its customer base without having to provide
material changes to their actual offerings. Apple will need to lean
heavily on this as a factor during its early days in the smart speaker
market due to its decision to enter the arena at the very top end of the
pricing scale. The HomePod will launch at a price that is more than twice
that of the original Amazon Echo and around what seven Echo Dots or Google
Home Minis can be had for. This may be a tough sale for some, but it may
also be an easy purchase for those who simply cannot resist the urge to
make sure that every piece of electronic equipment they own has that
familiar fruit logo on it.
Weaknesses
- Accuracy – As mentioned above, Siri cannot currently
match her competitors for accuracy or breadth of knowledge in testing. This
is not a problem for the most basic use cases of a smart speaker, but it
becomes more and more problematic as personal digital assistants continue to
grow and become a more ingrained part of the lives of their users. Simply
setting alarms or responding to messages will not be enough for most users
much longer. Their personal digital assistant will need to be able to
provide factual information and respond to natural language queries in the
way a human assistant would. Both Amazon and Google have made strides
towards making this possible for their entrants into the market, while Apple
has made relatively little progress. Thankfully for the company, Siri can be
updated to match its competitors, but it must happen as soon as possible if
Apple wishes to be a viable option in the smart speaker market. - Cost – Another point that was mentioned above, cost is
a major factor in the success or failure of the HomePod. Both Amazon and Google entered into the market at price points that would now be considered
middle-of-the-road. However, Apple chose to target premium customers
before all others. While this may pay benefits in net profits per unit,
it may also backfire in the long run, if the vast majority of potential customers simply
believe they have been priced out of the market. Apple appears to have
justified this decision by describing the HomePod as a
combination of a $300-$500 "Wi-Fi speaker" and a $100-200 smart speaker.6
However, not all smart speaker users are big enough audiophiles to have even
considered dropping that much money on a Wi-Fi-enabled speaker. In fact,
many owners of smart speakers barely use them for music playback at all,
instead relying on them for functional tasks and utilitarian purposes.
Furthermore, smart speakers can now be had for significantly less than the
price range Apple chose. Given these facts, there seems to be very little
motivation for a large subsection of users to shell out the $299 asking
price for the HomePod, even if it is reduced from the $349 launch price.
While rumors have occasionally swirled that Apple was prepping a lower-cost
Homepod follow-up, that unit has never materialized, leaving the premium
model as the only option for a Siri-equipped smart speaker. - Partner Ecosystem – Apple had to start almost
from scratch in its efforts to build an ecosystem of third party products
and services that work with the HomePod. It does have some bases to draw on
in the form of Siri’s partner ecosystem and HomeKit’s allies. However, these
two groups combined still represent only a tiny fraction of the number of
third party solutions that can interact with Alexa, or even the Google
Assistant. The reason for this is likely Apple’s walled-garden approach once
again having an impact on developers’ desire to choose their platforms. As
with iOS, developers must jump through significantly more hoops to have
their products approved for use on HomeKit or with Siri than they would
during the process of developing similar interactivity for competing AIs.
Currently Available Smart Speakers
Figure 8. Apple’s HomePod in White and Space Gray
Source: Apple
Apple HomePod – As Apple’s first entry into the smart
speaker market, the HomePod had much to prove. Despite its success in the
smartphone and tablet arena, Apple has had less luck broaching other home
electronics markets. Lesser known efforts such as Apple TV and its HomeKit home
automation platform have seen strong sales on occasion and have earned critical
praise over the years. However, they never achieved the level of market
dominance of iOS-powered mobile devices. Now that the HomePod has been on the
market for over a year, following a lengthy delay, the device has not made anywhere near
the impact of many competing offerings from Amazon and Google. However, it would
be unfair to compare the HomePod speaker to the likes of the Echo Dot or Google
Home. Due to its price and target audience of audiophiles, the only fair
comparison would be Google’s Home Max, which is equally expensive and equally
tailored to high-end listeners. In that sense, both speakers are designed
primarily for niche audiences, and were very likely never expected to reach or
beat the sales numbers of less costly units.
- Speaker – Single "high excursion" subwoofer with a custom amplifier and
seven tweeters - Wireless connectivity – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi with MIMO and Airplay 2
support - Price – $299.99
Figure 9. The Apple HomePod Mini
Source: Apple
HomePod Mini – While the HomePod above was not widely
expected to see broad adoption, Apple appears to be hoping its second attempt at
a standalone smart speaker is, in fact, capable of encroaching on the market
currently dominated by Amazon and Google. The HomePod Mini comes in at a much
more palatable $99. While this is still far in excess of the $50 or even $30
price points favored by Amazon and Google, Apple claims that the unit is capable
of some audio tricks not seen in any of the budget-friendly competing offerings
from its competitors. This includes the presence of a "full range driver and
dual passive radiators," allowing the device to provide "room-filling 360-degree
sound," Apple claims. It should, however, be noted that the Mini entry in the
HomePod line loses more than just audio output power, when compared to its
larger sibling. The device also foregoes spatial awareness and the ability to
serve as a home theater speaker when paired with a companion Apple TV 4K.
Although the HomePod Mini appears to have captured a more significant portion of
the market than its full-sized predecessor, it still remains largely limited to
those most committed to remaining exclusively within Apple's ecosystem or those
with some particular affinity for its combination of relative low cost and sound
quality.
- Speaker – "Full-range driver and dual passive radiators for deep bass
and crisp high frequencies" - Wireless connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.n (2.4GHz/5GHz) and
Bluetooth 5 - Price – $199.99
Other Smart Speakers
The smart speaker market is still a relative infant when compared to similar
categories like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. It has only existed for a
handful of years and only been truly relevant for even fewer. Because
of this, new manufacturers are either hesitant and highly interested in the
possibility of joining the ranks of smart speaker makers. While the smart
speaker makers and devices mentioned above cover essentially all of the
companies and noteworthy models currently or soon to be on the market, there are a few
lesser-known entrants attempting to capture their own corner of the user base. These
have
included a long-rumored smart speaker running on the so-called "Ambient OS" from Andy Rubin’s
Essential, as well as the Samsung 's Galaxy Home, a Bixby-powered smart speaker
from Samsung.7,8
While the Ambient OS speaker may be vaporware and Samsung’s Galaxy Home has
largely been forgotten despite Samsung’s claims that it is working on
improvements to Bixby, it does not mean
that it is impossible for a lesser-known company to challenge the big boys in
this space. That said, there remains no fourth party in this race at the time of
writing.
Summary
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There’s no doubt that the smart speaker market is poised for a
rise that is nothing short of meteoric. To realize this, one need only look
around at the success and flourishing diversity of not just the smart speaker
market itself, but of the home automation and Internet of Things markets as
well. One of the greatest strengths of smart speakers in these early
days of home automation and IoT integration, is that they have become one of the major
interaction points through which users can control and utilize the various
connected lighting, climate control, security, and monitoring products how
reaching the market. This is an excellent position for smart speakers to be in,
and one that research firm Global Market Insights believes will drive it to
generate $13 billion in revenue from more than 100 million units shipped
annually by 2024.9 Add to this the fact that, while an estimated 45
million home automation devices were out in the wild at the end of 2018, in the
third quarter of 2019 more than half that number shipped from manufacturers. The outlook for smart speakers is sky high.10,11
Although the success of the market as a whole may be easy to predict, the
rise and fall of the individual players within it is much less certain. Of
course, Amazon and Google are the obvious leaders currently. However, it must be
said that, for several years, Amazon had essentially no competition in this
space, and Google only joined the game with its initial launch of the
Google home in 2016. Even with Google now participating, and Apple joining
the lot, no clear winner can really be called as the game has only just begun.
What will likely separate any future leader from its competitors is a
combination of media streaming and connectivity with third party services. Smart
speakers are quickly becoming the primary way in which we interact with our
smart homes, serving as the voice of our lighting, heating, and security, while
also being fonts of entertainment via audio streaming and connected video
services. Any future market leader will need to combine all of these
capabilities into a platform that is capable of integrating with the widest
number of devices and services to create an almost seamless interaction with
other connected devices within the home, as well as online services. Just who
will accomplish this can only be guessed at for now. But, the competition will
almost certainly be an exciting one for consumers, with their homes and
entertainment sources getting smarter and smarter by the day.
Web Links
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- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/
Apple: https://www.apple.com/
Google: http://www.google.com/
References
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- 1. "Eight People Test Their Accents on Siri, Echo and Google Home."
Wired.
May 2017. - 2. Enge, Eric. "Rating the Smarts of the Digital Personal Assistants."
Stone Temple. April 2017. - 3. Dunn, Jeff. "Amazon’s Alexa Has Gained 14,000 Skills in the Last Year."
Business Insider. July 2017. - 4. Kinsella, Burt. "Amazon Alexa Skill Counts Rise Rapidly in the
U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Canada, and Australia." Voicebot.ai.
January 2019. - 5. Ibid.
- 6. Machkovech, Sam. "HomePod Is Apple’s First ‘Breakthrough Home
Speaker,’ Coming December for $349." Ars Technica.
June 2017. - 7. Gebhart, Andrew. "Android Inventor’s Echo Competitor
Will Choreograph
Your Home" CNet. May 2017. - 8. Ghoshal ,Abhimanyu. "Samsung Confirms Its
Bixby-Powered Smart Speaker Is on the Way." TheNextWeb. August 2017. - 9. "Smart Speaker Market to Hit $13bn by 2024: Global Market Insights, Inc."
Global Market Insights. June 2017. - 10. Caccavale, Michael. "The Impact of the Digital Revolution on the
Smart Home Industry." Forbes. September 2018. - 11. "Canalys: Amazon Smart Speaker Shipments Crossed 10 Million Mark in Q3
2019." Canalys. November 13, 2019.
About the Author
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Michael Gariffo is an editor for Faulkner Information Services. He
tracks and writes about enterprise software and the IT services sector, as well
as telecommunications and data networking.
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