Reports on Thursday have claimed Google is secretly working on a competitor for the increasingly-capable Amazon Echo personal-assistant-cum-home-speaker.
According to The Information, the project has been underway for months, but there are few specifics and little on the potential for a consumer release.
Regardless, it’s easy to see why Google would be interested in this field as it already possesses so much of the prowess that is impressing users of the Echo’s Alexa assistant.
With its unrivalled speech recognition prowess, unbeatable search engine and the power of the Google Now assistant to offer prevalent information when needed most, all Google would really need is vessel squeeze everything in to.
Commute details and traffic warnings could be freely available through Google Maps, News could be provided from an untold number of third party sources already available on the Google Play Store, while Calendar appointments could be read as users left the house in the morning.
There could be built in access to Gmail, Google Play Music, Hangouts, Translate, Keep notes and much more.
Google would also have one key ability over the Echo, (which gleans information from Wikipedia and other sources), the ability to perform a simple Google search. That could elicit informed responses where Alexa often says “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Essentially, such a device would be akin to an Android smartphone or tablet, controlled via voice commands and spoken responses, rather than a touchscreen. Essentially, Google would be crazy not to make it.
Perhaps the company could even squeeze everything into a future version of its most recent home-based gadget, the OnHub Router, which is already designed to be on show in the home.
Google also has its own smart home brand with Nest, that could enable the rumoured device to pull off full home automation. Strangely, The Information’s report claimed Nest had been left out of internal discussions surrounding the product at present.