Google Launches Digital Voice Assistant, Expecting to Ship Nearly 3 Million Devices in 2017
On Tuesday, Google announced Google Home, its always-listening digital voice assistant device and competitor to Amazon Echo, helping to expand the market for digital voice assistant devices.
Strategy Analytics' research indicates that the digital voice assistant device category is one that will grow quickly, with annual shipments totaling 15.1M units by 2020, up from 1.8M units in 2016.
At retail, Google Home is expected to sell for $129, which is $50 less than the Amazon Echo. However, Amazon is also offering a pared down version of Echo, the Echo Dot, in packs of six for $250. The low price point is meant to drive adoption by making it affordable for users to put an Alexa device in every room of the house.
At such low prices, it's unlikely that either company will turn a profit ...