Amazon Prepares for Apple and Google Competition With Home Devices Push

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Amazon.com Inc., girding for competition from Apple Inc. and Google in the race to equip homes with smart devices, unveiled a slew of consumer gadgets including an Alexa-powered digital-home hub, a smaller and cheaper Echo speaker and a new mini Echo with a screen, called Spot.

Though hardware products aren’t key to Amazon’s bottom line, they serve as important conduits for popularizing and expanding the Alexa voice-based digital assistant, which is integrated into the latest devices. The gadgets with screens also provide a platform for customers to view content like movies and books from Amazon Prime, the $99-a-year membership that does contribute to profits. As an e-commerce giant, Amazon aims to give consumers the ability to buy items on its website from any of their devices, and without its own smartphones Alexa drives that effort.

Amazon’s connected-home devices fit the company’s ambitions to be thought of as a one-stop shop for any consumer need, any time, any where. Making gadgets gives the company a chance to remove Apple and Google devices from its connection to customers. Amazon is even going beyond the internet to reach shoppers with its $13.7 billion purchase in August of Whole Foods Market, operator of hundreds of high-end grocery stores.

At its event Wednesday, Amazon also introduced a revamped Fire TV set-top box that will support higher-resolution 4K video at a faster frame rate the the previous versions, matching the capabilities of Apple’s recently updated model. Amazon’s new box is smaller than the current device and can plug into the back of a TV via its HDMI port. The product continues to integrate with Alexa, allowing users to shout commands into their remote control or to their Echo speakers. Netflix and Hulu will begin to support Alexa voice control within their respective Fire TV applications, Amazon said.

The company also unveiled a speaker phone accessory, called Echo Connect, that plugs into existing home landline telephone jacks. The other end of the $35 device connects to an Echo speaker so people can use their voice to make calls and chat hands-free. The device will be released in the U.S. in the fourth quarter and in the U.K. next year. Amazon also introduced the Echo Button, an accessory that can be used for games.

Amazon also said that its voice-calling and messaging service on Alexa would expand to the U.K. as well as to infotainment systems in some BMW cars by mid-2018. Amazon already has deals for Alexa with Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG.

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The items follow a procession of new Amazon products in 2017. The retail giant launched the Echo Show, a version of its speaker with a tablet-sized touchscreen; the Echo Look device, with a camera for giving users wardrobe advice; cheaper tablets; and a third-party television set with built-in Fire TV streaming capability. The company doesn’t disclose how many of each device it sells, nor does it break out revenue or profit from hardware.

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Amazon Prepares for Apple and Google Competition With Home Devices Push was originally posted by Viral News 1