Amazon Opens Alexa Voice Service to Third Party Hardware Makers
June 25 2015 - 9:03AM
Business Wire
A free set of APIs allows developers to add
Alexa to their devices—any device with a speaker, a microphone, and
an Internet connection can integrate Alexa with just a few lines of
code
Developer preview starts next month
(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Alexa is the cloud-based voice service that
powers Amazon Echo, a new category of device designed around your
voice. Today, Amazon announced that hardware developers can use the
Alexa Voice Service (AVS) to integrate Alexa into their
Internet-connected devices with only a few lines of code. No
experience with natural language understanding or speech
recognition is required. The Alexa Voice Service is free—learn more
and sign up to be notified when the preview for developers is
available at https://developer.amazon.com/AVS.
Examples of what developers can create with the Alexa Voice
Service include:
- A Wi-Fi alarm clock that lets a
customer talk to Alexa—“What’s the weather today?” or “What’s on my
calendar today?”
- A car that enables a driver to press
the Alexa button on the steering wheel and request anything from
Alexa, such as “Read my book” or “Remind me to pick up flowers
after work.”
- A movie ticket machine that lets a
moviegoer say “Buy six tickets for the next showing of Jurassic
World.”
- A countertop weather station that
enables customers to get more information by asking “What will the
weather be next weekend?” or “What was the rainfall in June last
year?”
- A TV that makes finding tonight’s game
simple—just pick up the remote and say “Turn on the baseball
game.”
- A home sound system that lets customers
turn on music just by saying “Play my barbeque playlist on the back
deck.”
“Today, we’re excited to open up the Alexa Voice Service to any
device maker that wants to add Alexa into their products—for free,”
said Greg Hart, Vice President, Amazon Echo and Alexa Voice
Services. “We’ve made adding Alexa incredibly easy for
developers—any device with a speaker, an Internet connection, and a
microphone can integrate Alexa with just a few lines of code. From
start-ups to established companies, we can’t wait to see how
developers integrate Alexa.”
Alexa is the brain behind Amazon Echo, a new category of device
designed around your voice. Echo is hands-free and always on—ask
for information, music, news, weather, and more from across the
room and get results or answers instantly. Alexa is built in the
cloud and leverages AWS to continue to learn and add functionality
over time—in the last seven months Alexa has added Pandora,
Audible, traffic, sports scores and schedules, control of connected
devices like WeMo and Philips Hue, IFTTT, and more. When a
developer uses the Alexa Voice Service to integrate Alexa into
their device, their product also gets the benefit of updated
capabilities that are added to Alexa, thus constantly improving the
device over time.
Here are a few of the hardware makers who are using AVS to
integrate Alexa into their products:
Wink, the quick and simple way to connect you and the products
you rely on in the home, is using AVS to enable customers to
control and monitor their connected home using only their
voice. “Amazon is helping us create an even more simple and
intuitive way to control your smart home—with your
voice,” said Nathan Smith, CTO of Wink. “By integrating
Alexa into our platform, customers will be able to manage
their home—everything from turning on lights, locking doors,
controlling temperature, and opening blinds—just by asking. We see
huge potential and are excited to make the smart home
even more accessible.”
Scout Alarm, a new breed of home security that customers can
install and manage themselves, is using AVS to enable customers to
manage their home security using voice. “We’re thrilled to use the
Alexa Voice Service to integrate Alexa with Scout to support voice
control capabilities,” said Dave Shapiro, CTO at Scout. “Alexa
opens new ways for our customers to interact with their security
system—ways not yet seen in our industry. By simply speaking to
Alexa as they leave the home, customers can arm their system, or
remotely check in on the security of their home using voice
commands. Advanced home security has never been this simple, easy
or available to more people; we are excited that Scout customers
get to experience the convenience of Alexa.”
Toymail, the creator of Wi-Fi connected toys that send and
receive voice messages for families, is using AVS to enable
families to exchange voice messages using Alexa. “Toymail creates
toys that help families stay connected with loved ones, without
more screen time,” said Gauri Nanda, Co-Founder of Toymail. “Using
Alexa Voice Service, Toymail customers can use their voice, in
addition to our mobile app, to deliver fun messages and content to
family members anywhere, anytime. For example, a dad can ask
Alexa from the kitchen ‘Tell Ben: ten more minutes before dinner.’
And, we’re excited to add Alexa to our Mailman toys—just say
‘Alexa, read a story’ and the family can enjoy a bedtime audiobook
together via the Mailman’s speakers.’”
The free Alexa Voice Service will be available as a developer
preview starting next month—learn more and sign up to be notified
when it is available at https://developer.amazon.com/AVS.
Amazon also today introduced the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), a
collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and
easy for developers to create new voice-driven skills and
capabilities for Alexa. With a few lines of code, developers can
easily integrate existing web services with Alexa or, in just a few
hours, they can build entirely new experiences designed around
voice. For example, an Internet-connected sprinkler system can
integrate its sprinklers with Alexa, so a customer can say, “Alexa,
ask my sprinkler to water my lawn for 15 minutes.” Read the press
release: www.amazon.com/ASK.
About Amazon
Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The
company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather
than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews,
1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment
by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire
tablets, Fire TV, and Amazon Echo are some of the products and
services pioneered by Amazon.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150625005700/en/
Amazon.com, Inc.Media Hotline, 206-266-7180www.amazon.com/pr
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024