Google and Amazon Battle It Out In CES 2018
Recent reports have revealed that this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) might be turning out to be an all-out war between Google and Amazon in terms of their respective voice assistants. Further reports reveal that Google's efforts of reminding fans of the existence of the Google Assistant has also extended to huge advertisement billboards.
CES 2018 kicked off a few days ago, and already fans have noticed that Google and Amazon are locked in a battle for smart devices that are powered by Google Assistant and Alexa. Devices that have so far been featured include JBL and LG, who have each boasted the newest smart speakers in the market. Considering that Amazon is currently leading in the category of smart home appliances, Google has taken drastic measures to prevent Alexa from moving forward. For one, they have recently blocked off YouTube from Amazon's Echo Show. Analysts think that this might be a deal breaker for some of the fans.
"There's no question that the momentum is with Amazon," analyst Simon Bryant from market research firm Futuresource told BBC. "[The firm] has proven that there is a logical use case for a hands-free assistant in the smart home. Amazon's reach geographically is still pretty limited and language support [on Alexa] is very poor. Google has many more languages... so moving forward there are question marks about how long Amazon can sustain the growth."
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Meanwhile, while CES 2018 is being filled up with smart home devices and smart speakers, Google has extended their reach to billboard advertisements as further reports reveal that the tech giant has taken to using videos on the Strip to promote the Google Assistant. There is no news yet on the projected future of the Google Assistant, but fans are expecting more information in the coming months. In the meantime, CES 2018 might be filled with smart products until its final day.
