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By Maria Silvia Sanna

6 years ago

The rise of a new market In late 2014, Amazon launched Amazon Echo, a voice-activated speaker powered by the artificial intelligence of Alexa. With this move, the e-commerce giant launched a brand new category of products, the smart speakers. It took two years to Google to follow Amazon, releasing Google Home in October 2016. Two […]

The rise of a new market

In late 2014, Amazon launched Amazon Echo, a voice-activated speaker powered by the artificial intelligence of Alexa. With this move, the e-commerce giant launched a brand new category of products, the smart speakers.

It took two years to Google to follow Amazon, releasing Google Home in October 2016.

Two more years later, in 2018, the market of smart speakers is growing fast and many new players have entered the market. Just to name a few, Soros launched One, powered by Alexa, and Apple launched the Siri controlled Homepad.

Nowadays, according to a study by NPR and Edison Research16 percent of Americans own a smart speaker. We are talking about around 39 million people in the USA only. A recent study from Juniper Research forecasts that voice-activated speakers will be installed in over 70 million U.S. households by 2022, reaching 55% of all homes.

How you can use voice-activated speakers

From playing a playlist to more complicated tasks such as setting an alarm or a timer or even booking an Uber ride, smart speakers entered into our homes and offices as digital butlers, ready to assist us in – almost – everything we need.

They can be extremely functional when they help us interact with smart home devices and appliances, but they can also become funny, telling a joke on command and challenging the entire family with games.

Their main purpose is to assist you with voice search and help you access to many kinds of content from websites to audio books and music. Each smart speaker has slightly different functions and can interact with a certain range of third-party applications.

Are smart speakers becoming a habit?

Smart speakers are replacing traditional media for family entertainment. 30% of users say that they spent less time in front of the tv and more time playing with their favorite voice-activated artificial intelligence.

Moreover, as people get used to the robotic voices of smart speakers, they interact more often with their voice assistants in their smartphones. For 44% of the users interviewed by NPR and Edison Research, smart speakers trigger the use of other voice-activated assistants.

People are becoming accustomed to smart speakers, putting them in the very heart of their homes.

In the infographic below, based on Google‘s data, you are going to find out how smart speakers are used, how this technology affects online shopping and consumes, and what kind of relation do users have with this technology.

It’s not a surprise that voice search queries resemble natural language more than web search queries, but you may find intriguing that so many people feel like they are talking with a friend.

Is Gartner research right when it states that in 2020 we are going to talk more often with virtual assistants than with our partners? ?

Smart Speakers - Infographic

Content writing and voice-activated devices

If you are a web writer and you are trying to figure out how voice technologies are going to impact on your content follow Teodora Petkova’s webinar on how you can engage your readers on screenless devices. Enjoy!

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