Google’s AI-powered smart speaker, Google Home, is all geared up to launch in the UK before June rolls around, according to a report from BBC News. As per Google exec Rick Osterloh’s statement, this is the estimated launch date. He also went on to say that the search engine giant was “uniquely positioned” to beat its main rival in the sector, Amazon’s Echo. Osterloh said:
We’ve got so much history with people using our search products and people using voice queries through Android phones… that we’re able to much better answer these types of questions. All this data really helps in us making sure we understand what the user is looking for.
Launching in the US last November, Google Home is powered by Google Assistant. Much akin to the Echo, Home can answer basic questions, carry out simple tasks like setting timers, and also be used to control smart home products. However, a step up from the Echo is it can also remember the context of questions, allowing users to ask questions like “Who is the president of the United States?” and then follow-ups like “When was he born?”
However, Amazon, has a significant head start in the smart speaker department. Last week, the company announced that it had launched more than 10,000 skills for its digital assistant Alexa, available in the UK since last September.
An official launch is important not only because users will be able to purchase Home easily in the UK without going through any intermediaries, but also because it should understand the various British accents better, also touting several new partners to make it appealing to UK users. Although Osterloh remained mum on pricing, a figure around the 99-129 GBP mark is expected, with taxes factored in.
In the rival department, Time magazine reported this week that Amazon had developed a way for Alexa to distinguish between different voices, which would help narrow down purchases to specific users, thus preventing the device being accidentally activated by TVs in the vicinity- a common problem being experienced in homes. The report said the underlying technology was poised for deployment, but the exact date remained unclear. Annette Zimmermann from the Gartner tech consultancy commented:
In the short term, Amazon has the better chance because it has developed a large platform connected to many other smart products in the sector. But in the long term, given that Google has a lot of capacity round its search capabilities and is investing deeply into artificial intelligence, it probably has the better prospects.
