Blog: voice control

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Universal Search – The Gaping Hole in Streaming Video

Amanda Stears

5 Dec 2019

All 4

BBC iPlayer

cord shavers

The day is done and you are slouched on the sofa, ready for some binge watching. But how often have you found yourself aimlessly scrolling through Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV etc. not knowing exactly what to watch or where to start? Not quite “feeling” it, you exit Netflix.

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Free Streaming Goes to Voice: Should Radio Companies Be Worried?

Zach Fuller

25 Apr 2019

amazon streaming strategy

google home

radio disruption

History doesn’t repeat itself. It does, however, rhyme. Amazon have followed up the announcement of its free music streaming service by elaborating on its integration into Alexa and its Echo device. Not coincidentally, Google swiftly followed suit by announcing a similar service.

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Voice Control: Smartphones, In-Home Speakers, and the Digital Attention Economy

Hanna Kahlert

24 Apr 2019

Digital economy

in-home

Media

This article is derived from MIDiA’s Voice Market and Behaviour Trends Overview report. The use of voice command continues to be niche, with overall consumer penetration at a mere 9%. Predominantly that usage is on smartphones, with “asking for directions” one of the key use cases.

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Thoughts on Spotify’s Acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor

Zach Fuller

6 Feb 2019

Amazon Alexa

Anchor

apple homepod

Spotify is reported to have purchased the podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor. Having only just reported an operating profit for the first time, the deals demonstrate not only how Spotify is still firmly locked in growth mode and its market share in music streaming platforms but also how much Spotify value the podcast space.

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Facebook Launches Its Smart Speaker: A Few Strategic Considerations For Portal

Zach Fuller

9 Oct 2018

Amazon Echo

apple home pod

echo dot

Earlier this year, MIDiA predicted that Facebook would join the smart speaker market. A TV dongle or smart speaker: It makes strategic sense for Facebook to develop a TV dongle like Amazon’s Fire Stick or smart speaker like Apple’s HomePod, to give it a hardware foothold in the home—something that Oculus clearly is not going to be anytime soon, if ever.

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Walled Gardens: How Does Amazon and Google’s Approach Compare to Apple’s?

Zach Fuller

22 Jan 2018

Amazon

consumer electronics

echo

Having begun to embed itself within popular consciousness throughout 2017, voice control is poised to extend its influence and usher in the latest hardware paradigm shift in tech. What is important to consider is that in these early days of the technology, the charge is being led by two companies with a far less decorated history of delivering hardware: Amazon and Google.

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Quick Take: Why Amazon and Microsoft Are Joining Forces on Voice

Zach Fuller

1 Sep 2017

Amazon

Apple

Facebook

Amazon and Microsoft have announced they will be collaborating around the Echo by allowing Microsoft’s Cortana service to be accessed through the voice control device. Whilst the move is not a direct merger between the company’s two respective voice assistants, it will now allow users commanding Cortana to open Alexa, meaning you will now be able to launch one of over 18,000 Alexa skills.

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Thoughts On Second-Order Effects For Content Discovery in Voice

Zach Fuller

30 Jun 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Echo

Second-order effects are rarely considered when new technologies come to the fore and reach critical mass. For example, the realisation of smartphones, the emergence of Apple's app store and the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and cheap, effective data in mature digital markets means a service such as WhatsApp makes more immediate sense, but Uber and Snapchat are less obvious.

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Quick Take: Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition Is A Major Coup For Voice Control Commerce

Zach Fuller

16 Jun 2017

acquisition

Alexa

Amazon

In the hours following the announcement of Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of American supermarket chain Whole Foods, much of the immediate attention is currently focused on how the e-commerce giant will disrupt the food and grocery brick-and-mortar retail experience.

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Why the Voice Control Landscape Will Be So Competitive

Zach Fuller

26 May 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Withthe success of Prime and the Echo, Amazon at present is experiencing the same halo effect that graced Microsoft in the 90s and Apple in the 00s. Withtheir finger on the pulse of everything from entertainment (Manchester by-the-sea, American Gods) to drones, there appears to be a consensus that save for anti-trust legislation, Amazon will become the first $1 Trillion market cap company.

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Amazon Double Down on Voice Control by Announcing Echo Show

Zach Fuller

9 May 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Echo

Amazon is doubling down on Echo’s success (60% growth rate since November 2016) by just announcing the Echo Show. A visual iteration on the Echo, the device is priced at $229.99 and will initially only be released in the US, mimicking the rollout strategy of the original Echo device last year.

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Will Amazon’s Lex Platform Be the New App-Store?

Zach Fuller

21 Apr 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Prime Video

Swiftly following the success of the Echo, Amazon have announced their Lex platform is now open to 3rd party developers, allowing them to create and monetise chat-bots, further embellishing the device.

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Quick Take: Baidu Acquires xPerception as Competition in Sensory Computing Heats Up

Zach Fuller

14 Apr 2017

Alibaba

Amazon Echo

Apple

Chinese tech giant Baidu announced today they will be acquiring xPerception, in what can be interpreted as a strategic play for the Augmented Reality market. At face value, xPerception covers much of 2017 in tech’s buzzwords: AI, AR and Deep Learning.

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