Amazon has confirmed that it will be incorporating the Alexa voice services to the Amazon shopping app on Android. This update is the first of its kind, moving past the presence of Alexa on Echo speakers and other devices. With the company's trend of bringing Alexa everywhere as its digital voice assistant, it is not a surprise that they will continue to push this artificial intelligence companion to every app and device possible.
Hello, Alexa!
Starting next week, we can interact with Alexa using our Android device provided that we have installed Amazon's main shopping application.
The talks started brewing when Echo device owners started receiving notifications from Amazon announcing the feature roll out. And with the company's confirmation released today, it is safe to proceed with our expectations.
About the specific Alexa feature set, users will not be restricted to simply asking Alexa about simple and ordinary matters. With the app's assistance, you will be able to use Alexa as much as you can on your Echo devices. This means you may inquire about the weather, stream music, input general web search, and control smart home products. Also, Alexa on Android can perform different tasks including telling jokes, launching the Netflix app, and ordering Starbucks.
However, some reports say that it does not seem like there is a need to perform these tasks from the Amazon app.
In fact, they feel like it is more like an Alexa demo than a daily functionality. More than anything, it is evident that the idea is for consumers to be more familiar with Alexa. Such awareness should serve as an encouragement for them to purchase a hardware device such as the Echo or Echo dot.
A clearer intention
It was back in March when Amazon first brought Alexa to its main app on the iOS platform.
At the time, the implementation for Android was only set to happen. Now that came down the line; many are wondering how it would pan out.
Despite the lack of full features and built-in mechanism, bringing Alexa into the major mobile ecosystems is a smart move from Amazon. It may not convince everyone to switch from Siri or Google Assistant, but it's enough exposure.
The dedicated Alexa app has between 5,000,000 - 10,000,000 installs on Android. If you compare it with the Amazon's main shopping app that has 100,000,000 - 500,000,000 installs, the integration makes so much sense. It would put Alexa based on a greater mobile reach, which includes those who may not even be familiar with the voice assistant.
