Google and Amazon wage war over voice
Tech giants push for their digital assistants to become standard in new devices
LAS VEGAS— The flash of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is all about robots, drones and smart gadgets. But its subtext is all about Google versus Amazon.
Both companies usually shun tech shows such as CES, preferring to debut gadgets at their own news events. But these tech giants have built an imposing presence here this year as they work to weave their voice-operated digital assistants more deeply into our personal lives.
Google has plastered digital billboards and the Las Vegas Monorail with the “Hey Google” wake-up command. It’s announced a range of new gadgets featuring its assistant on everything from smart displays to pressure cookers. And it has sent out the clowns — a jumpsuit-wearing army of advertising associates wearing brightly coloured Converse sneakers and hovering around partner firms’ booths to explain how Google’s technology works.
Amazon, which grabbed an early lead in this market, opted for a more subtle approach. Instead of an advertising blitz, its Alexa digital assistant has merely been popping up regularly in “smart” products across the convention — everything from mirrors and toilets to headphones and car dashboards.
The two companies — and to a lesser extent, Apple with Siri and Microsoft with Cortana — are waging a fierce struggle to establish their assistants as de facto standards for a new generation of voice-controlled devices. Both companies see the competition in existential terms. Getting shut out of voice devices could imperil Google’s lucrative digital-advertising business, the source of its financial strength. Amazon, meanwhile, wants to ensure that its customers can directly access its “everything store,” in contrast to now, when they mostly shop via devices and software systems controlled by Amazon’s rivals.
For consumers, meanwhile, the spread of these assistants offers new convenience in the form of an everpresent digital concierge. But there could also be some uneasiness about revealing even more about their habits, preferences and routines to distant computers that are always listening for their commands.
Google said this week it’s integrating its voice assistant to allow remote control of some settings in Kia and Fiat Chrysler vehicles, while Toyota announced a similar arrangement with Amazon that enables drivers to ask Alexa turn the heat up at home before they arrive.
But these smart products can — and sometimes do — support multiple assistants. Toyota Connected CEO Zack Hicks told reporters that “we’re not exclusive” with Amazon, and that nothing prevents Toyota from partnering with others.
Whether people will truly pay more for the ability not to walk over and flip a switch themselves is unclear. But manufacturers aren’t taking the chance that they’ll be left behind if one or the other assistant becomes dominant.
“Five years ago, no one could predict what was going to happen with the smart home,” says LG Electronics USA marketing vice-president David VanderWaal. “Five years from now, we’re not quite sure either. So this open partner, open platform system, is definitely the way to go.”