Amazon Bolsters Voice Based-Platform Alexa With Investment in TrackR
Amazon.com Inc is investing between $250,000 and $500,000 in Bluetooth technology company TrackR to extend the reach of its Alexa virtual assistant, according to a source familiar with the matter
Alexa is the cloud-based system that controls the Amazon Echo, a speaker system launched by Amazon in 2014 that has emerged as a surprise hit. "Alexa" is the name the device responds to when users make requests, such as "turn on radio."
Amazon and TrackR declined to comment on the size of the investment.
Like Apple Inc's Siri and Google's Google Now, Alexa is designed to answer questions or take other actions in response to simple voice queries.
Unlike its rivals, Amazon allows non-Amazon devices to integrate Alexa technology. The investment in TrackR came through Amazon's $100 million "...