Updated on July 31, 2017
Following ET's post about Amazon launching Echo and Alexa in India this year, Amazon sent a clarification to IBTimes, India, saying it is a speculation and no company official has revealed such plans.
Furthermore, the company pointed us to the statement that Amazon's Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Brian T. Olsavsky made during the analyst call post results.
"The -- we're within the guidance range, and we continue to invest in, as I said, fulfillment capacity and logistic services, digital video, our Echo and Alexa -- Echo devices and Alexa platform, India, the buildup at AWS infrastructure, all the things I mentioned, not to mention Prime Now and AmazonFresh and Prime benefits," Olsavsky said.
The context was to highlight all the various things in which Amazon.com is investing as a company. This includes India, AWS, Alexa and Echo among other things, and nothing particularly about launching Echo and Alexa in India.
Original story
Siri and Google Now are popular voice assistants globally, but there's a solid competitor in the U.S., UK and Germany that makes equivalent sense. Amazon's Echo voice assistant is helping in the households in the most practical way, thanks to its seamless integration into Echo smart speakers.
We had the chance to explore Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, and found it to be a practical addition into our day-to-day lives. As people move towards smart homes, Amazon Echo speakers work as a hub to interact with other Internet of Things (IoT) and help users control them with just voice commands.
In India, Amazon Echo with Alexa integration could find new homes. With the latest report by the Economic Times suggesting Amazon Echo with regional language support coming to the country this year, there will likely be many takers.
According to the report, the smart speakers will be launched with English language support initially, but they will be updated to regional languages such as Tamil, Hindi and Marathi at a later point. Amazon Echo will clearly target tech-savvy individuals in the urban rather than rural areas.
Amazon Echo will help users order groceries, book an Uber, control other smart home gadgets with just voice commands. It will be a lifestyle product, but affordability of the Echo in India can help Amazon break some barriers.
But Amazon Echo witnessed huge success in the U.S., but the Indian market is just not the same. Larger families and two-factor authentication for payments structure are some of the concerns Amazon will need to work with in India.
"We will work around these barriers using pass-phrases and other India-specific innovations," a senior executive at Amazon on condition of anonymity told ET.
The report said that Amazon Echo has already been distributed to select company execs in India for testing purposes.
"As of now, there is still a barrier to the extent of Alexa's capabilities because you cannot use it to purchase groceries from a local store or book yourself an Uber," an official testing the Amazon Echo in India said. "However, when connected to your home WiFi you can get Alexa to draft and send work emails, text messages, help children with their homework ranging from mat hematics to history lessons, set up re minders, check food recipes, play music or a movie on Amazon Prime Video, and even do your shopping from Amazon."
Amazon Echo is priced at $179 in the U.S. and there's a basic Echo Dot for $50, which carries out similar functions. The pricing of both smart speakers will play a key role in the success of Amazon Echo in India.
Amazon hasn't publicly admitted to testing its Echo speakers in India, but hasn't entirely denied the possibility of its arrival.
"Internationalization of all our products is super important, and Alexa and Echo are no different. We expect over time to go everywhere Amazon is, but I have nothing to share today about availability outside the US, UK and Germany," a company spokesperson had said in response to a query about Echo's arrival in India earlier this year. International Business Times, India, hasn't been updated on any change of plans since.
Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Amazon.com,
