Word count: 1211 Reading time: 9 minutes
Voice interaction is just one input method, but the output does not necessarily have to go through a speaker; it could involve multiple channels, including TVs, refrigerators, etc. The strong interaction model does exist in smart home scenarios, and there is certainly room for development, but it is still too early to discuss the entry point.
By｜Ai Meng
Proofread by｜Jane
Image source｜Network
According to reports from Jiwei Network, this year, smart homes without voice functionality are basically out of the game. Amidst the core competition, at the CES exhibition, both smart speaker manufacturers and smart TV manufacturers are in a silent struggle: should they divide and conquer or unify the market?
Whose Social Circle is Larger?
Smart speakers are no longer a novelty; they can be described as “ubiquitous” at the CES exhibition.
In contrast, the competing product is the voice-controlled smart TV. Besides having larger sizes and higher resolutions, these TVs share a common feature: they all support voice control. Samsung’s TVs support Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and their own Bixby; LG TVs integrate their own ThinQ smart platform; TCL TVs offer different versions depending on the sales market, including Roku, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa.
Thus, the competition for entry points is intensifying, with both sides holding firm opinions. For instance, a representative from TCL believes that TVs are a natural hub and can serve as the smart home entry point in the living room. However, in the North American market, smart speakers have become a necessity. A Nielsen report states that in 2018, over 24% of American households owned a smart speaker, and 68% of users even chat with their voice assistants.
“Smart speakers became popular in the U.S. because they must be controlled by voice in application scenarios. But is such a scenario really present in China?” asked Wang Ke, AI Product Director at Migu Culture, expressing uncertainty.
Due to different scenarios and demands, it may be difficult to reach a conclusion for now. However, it is clear that Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa may emerge as the biggest winners, as these major voice assistants are attempting to connect everything in the home, car, and outdoors through their service ecosystems. Currently, Amazon Alexa supports over 28,000 devices from more than 4,500 brands, while Google Assistant supports 10,000 devices from 1,600 brands.
It is Still Early to Discuss Entry Points
Connecting everything through voice platforms seems to have no barriers. However, Wang Ke still believes that voice control must be a strong interaction model. Moreover, voice interaction is just one input method, but the output does not necessarily have to go through a speaker; it could involve multiple channels, including TVs, refrigerators, etc. The strong interaction model does exist in smart home scenarios, and there is certainly room for development, but it is still too early to discuss entry points.
Lei Zehua, Vice President of Product Development at Zhiban Technology, analyzed that to serve as the smart home entry point, a device must be the one used most frequently. The future will depend on the usage rate and frequency of smart speakers; if data shows high frequency, smart speakers may become the entry point for smart homes.
The highest realm of voice interaction should be natural interaction. Wu Gengyuan, Executive Vice President of Deep Intelligence, stated that strictly speaking, smart speakers are still a Me Too product. Whether they have more intelligent semantic understanding to achieve better human-machine interaction and provide services tailored to specific user needs is more important than which carrier serves as the entry point. The underlying logic is to achieve the realm of natural human-machine interaction, which still requires the integration of software and hardware.
As Wang Yuquan, founding partner of Haiyin Capital, who focuses on investing in technology companies, said, smart homes should operate quietly in the background, completing tasks without the need for control.Proofread by/Jane
More Major News:
1.Value for money: Redmi Note 7 plus 10 yuan for 18W fast charging
2. Apple announces that the iMac models from the end of 2012 will be “obsolete” by the end of the month
3. Lenovo PC shipments rank first again; Yang Yuanqing: The PC market has bottomed out and cannot get worse
4. QQ v9.0.9 beta version released
5. iPhone price drops by over a thousand yuan; should you buy a cheap iPhone or wait for a 5G phone?
6. 15.6-inch body with a 17.3-inch screen; Mechanical Revolution X8Ti Plus launched at 10,999 yuan
7. Shanghai Phoenix reaches an agreement with OFO: recovers 27.92 million yuan in goods, remaining to be paid in installments
8. Supports 8K video recording: Sharp showcases 8K camera prototype at CES 2019
9. First-line｜FF responds to the reduction of 39 people in the China team: for normal business adjustments
10. Hello, the era of mobile phone oligarchs
Please downloadAi Jiwei APP to read
For more Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit special reports, please click below to read the original text
