It has become common to find virtual assistants such as Alexa from Amazon in various apparatus including washing machine, smart speakers, and smartphones among other electronics. It has become very challenging to find people who use the virtual assistants for more functions than the traditional clock or radio would do. A management consulting firm known as Activate looked at the usage of the virtual assistants among heavy users. According to this organization, any person using the virtual assistants for more than three times a day is considered a heavy user. In its findings, the company discovered that majority of individuals use the virtual assistants to play music, set time, get the weather, or better still, ask questions. It also found out that the larger percentage of Alexa users had only interacted with the basic apps that come with the device.
According to Amazon’s data, at least four out of five of individuals registered on Alexa have used at least one of the more than 30,000 skills that are available to them. As much as some individuals are well tapped into exploiting features such as controlling the lights in their homes, many are accustomed to using the virtual assistants for routine tasks. Apple first popularized the concept of the virtual assistant in the year 2011 when it first introduced a technology that is known as Siri in its iPhones. Within three years, Amazon launched a speaker identified as Echo that contains microphones that get and translate what we say to Alexa. Many technology companies believe that virtual assistants are vital since they intend to have the control of a platform that other devices must depend on.
Considering that companies with the most useful virtual assistant will stand out amongst its competitors, tech companies are now dedicated to making their assistants available in every place. Google and Amazon, for instance, dropped their entry-level model to $30 from $50. Analysts say that Amazon is leading in the number of sales it has made. Google is second. Amazon has entered an agreement with Toyota to include Alexa in some Lexus and Toyota vehicles. On the other hand, LG Televisions, Sony headphones as well as Lenovo displays will use Google assistants. Google’s assistant is available in over 400 million devices which include refrigerators, air-conditioners, driers, washing machines among other electronics. With the assistant, Google says that an individual can accomplish much including adding calendar events.
