Does Amazon Alexa promote the next generation of mobile apps?

Does Amazon Alexa promote the next generation of mobile apps?

The Consumer Electronics Show 2018 has proven that the voice in the near future is nowhere near, in fact, it is known in almost every branch. From the automotive industry to health care, the number of digital assistants has greatly increased. What is now possible with the voice is only the beginning of what will happen in the next years and has great potential for developers everywhere.
Amazon Alexa shows in new and interesting integrations for big brands around the world. CES 2018 housed a variety of smart speaker products and brands that showed a rush of Alexa integrations. The interest in developing tools for the platform has rocketed as many developers are ready to enter the fast-growing ecosystem.
The smart speaker landscape
The CTE (Consumer Technology Association), the organization that runs CES, reports that sales of smart speakers increased 279% last year, while the marketplace predicted voice activation of loudspeakers 2018 would increase by 130%.

Amazon has a number of device types on the market, including Echo and Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show and Echo Spot, Echo Look, and third-party applications. At the same time, Google launched Google Home and its voice assistant, which was released on the Pixel smartphone.
While other companies focused on AR and VR, Amazon worked on Alexa Skills. The launch of Amazon's Alexa by Echo devices and third-party developers exceeded expectations. Now, Alexa is leading the competition, dominating over 70% of the market for smartphones.

But Amazon is not the only great player now. Apple, Google, Windows, and Samsung are following and some brands are now trying to build their own personality, from bots to voice assistants, such as Domo's pizza-ordering KI personality Dom. On the other hand, Campbell Soup Company, Uber and Capital One are creating apps ("skills" for Alexa, "actions" for Google) that will allow them to search for recipes, book a ride and check the bank balance by speaking with a voice-enabled device.

When the iPhone was released for the first time, there was a strong increase in app development as developers and marketers urged to release mobile apps. Nowadays, the same urgency as language is the new limit of mobile apps. Gartner expects to have more than 20 billion voice-controlled devices, TVs and other IoT devices by 2020.
Consumers expect unique and personalized experiences. Trademarks are not just about bringing information to users where they are, but also focusing on a more immersive experience.

Alexa paves the way
Amazon's expansion of Alexa's abilities over their own devices has resulted in further shocking speeds. A few weeks ago, an expansion of Alexa skills in computers, cars, mirrors and even toilets. There's even more speculation that Alexa gets into the health sector.
Amazon is confident that they are ahead of voice competitors in that they control important functions over mobile phones, as some virtual assistants are still finding their way into the marketplace.
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Alexa has helped promote interest in using language technology. Other services such as Apple Siri, Google Now and Microsoft Cortana started ahead of Alexa, but this is Amazon, which has since become synonymous with language assistants stealing Siri's show.
Alexa's increasing popularity is changing the way we create user interfaces. Alexa provides users with access to information and services through hands-free operation. Voice offers a completely new way of interacting with technologies that change the overall interaction of users with mobile apps.
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With language services, brands gain an understanding of what their users want, as this technology provides insight into the behavior patterns and preferences of customers in their own homes. You can determine what information a customer is looking for when using a particular skill, how much time users spend interacting with one's ability to do so, and so on.

Should you include voice in your mobile strategy?
Developers experiment with this new technology and look for opportunities for language interactions. However, when introducing new technologies you have to be aware. Does it make sense for your brand? Look for opportunities that your customers want to interact with your brand, but make sure it stays that way, otherwise you'll frustrate your users. It is important to note that, as more and more AI and voice-enabled devices become more popular, as more and more brands are adopted, this does not make sense for your brand. When working with language services, take into account how to create real added value.

Final thoughts

Now that Amazon, Google and many other colossal brands have proven the value of Voice, we will see continuous growth in this area. Between cars, home appliances and so on, the possibilities of language integration are endless. Companies now recognize that speech offers consumers the opportunity to connect directly and conveniently to desired content. The number of Alexa integrations announced during the CES proved Amazon's dominance of this new technology and demonstrated the potential that Alexa and voice have for changing the interactions between brands and their users.