Amazon\u2019s Alexa voice assistant is having a good CES. Not only landing inside additional speaker hardware but finding entirely new incarnations in other connected household items \u2014 such as a lamp , a smart fridge and even a robot vacuum cleaner. Cars are on its roadmap too.
But it\u2019s also now heading into third party smartphone hardware, with Chinese Android OEM Huawei announcing it will be pre-loading the AI assistant into the US version of its Mate 9 flagship smartphone.
Huawei launched its flagship Mate 9 phablet in Europe and Asia late last year without the Alexa pre-load so it\u2019s evidently hoping to raise its profile in the US with the help of Amazon\u2019s ecommerce empire. According to Phys.org , the handset will be available in the US in \u201cearly 2017\u201d.
The smartphone voice assistant landscape is very fiercely contested, with Apple\u2019s now long-in-the-tooth Siri assistant battling it out with Google\u2019s redoubled efforts, in the form of an upgraded Google Assistant, currently available on its own hardware and via its Allo cross-platform messaging app; meanwhile last year Samsung acquired Siri creators\u2019 next effort, Viv to push its own AI platform smarts; and Microsoft has opened up access to its cross-platform Cortana AI .
For Android OEMs that don\u2019t have the resources to acquire or develop their own AI voice smarts, Amazon\u2019s Alexa looks to be lining up as an attractive pre-load option, especially for markets such as the US where the ecommerce giant dominates online shopping.
In other words: it\u2019s the services , stupid. So it seems unlikely Huawei will be the only OEM seeking to boost handset sales with an Alexa pre-load.
Speaking to TechCrunch yesterday , analyst Gartner talked up the growing opportunity for voice-driven connected devices, arguing that consumers are looking for \u201cdifferent ways of interacting with their devices\u201d, and for devices that can provide \u201ca better experience\u201d.<\/p>\n