Page 18 - Fortune-November 01, 2018

describe what you want to a smart speaker.” will make shopping on these devices even
Amazon does say it’s not overly fixated on the Echo as a more convenient. In September, Amazon an-
shopping aid, especially given how the device ties in with the nounced it was testing with Snapchat an app
other services it offers through its Prime subscription. Still, it that enables shoppers to take a picture of a
holds out hope the Amazon-optimized computers it has placed product or a bar code with Snapchat’s camera
in customers’ homes will boost its retail business. “What is and then see an Amazon product page on the
available for shopping is your buying history,” says Amazon’s screen. It’s not hard to imagine that the next
Prasad, the natural-language-processing scientist. “If you want step for shoppers will be to use the camera
to buy double-A batteries, you don’t need to see them, and you embedded in the Echo Show to snap a picture
don’t need to remember which ones. If you’ve never bought of something they’d like to buy and then see
batteries before, we will suggest Amazon’s brand, of course.” onscreen the same or similar items along with
The potential to boost shopping remains far bigger than sell- prices, ratings, and whether they’re available
ing replacement batteries, especially because so many merchants for Prime two-day free shipping.
will want to partner with—and take advantage of—the platforms
associated with the tech giants. The research firm OC&C Strat- XCITING AS THIS technology is, it
egy Consultants predicts that voice shopping sales from Echo, may take nontechnophiles a bit
Google Home, and their ilk will reach $40 billion by 2022—up E of time to get used to speaking
from $2 billion today. A critical evolution of the speakers helps to machines. The tech giants
explain the promise. Both Amazon and Google now offer smart aren’t the most trusted of com-
home devices with screens, which make the gadgets feel more panies right now, and they’ll need to convince
like a cross between small computers and television sets and thus consumers their devices aren’t eavesdropping
better for online shopping. Amazon launched the $230 Echo for nefarious reasons. Smart speakers are
Show in the spring of 2017. Like other Echo devices, the Show supposed to click into listen mode only when
has Alexa embedded, but it also enables users to see images. That they detect “wake words,” such as “Alexa,” or
means shoppers can see the products they are ordering as well as “Hey, Google.” In May, Amazon mistakenly
their shopping lists, TV shows, music lyrics, feeds from security sent a conversation about hardwood floors
cameras, and photos from that vacation in Montana, all without that a Portland executive was having with his
pushing any buttons or manipulating a computer mouse. wife to one of his employees. Amazon publicly
For its part, Google has partnered with four consumer apologized for the snafu, saying it had “misin-
electronics manufacturers, some of which have recently started terpreted” the conversation.
selling smart screens integrated with the Google Assistant. The The spoken word has the potential for er-
Lenovo Smart Display, for example, looks a lot like Facebook’s rors far beyond that of typed commands. This
new Portal and retails for $250, the same price as the JBL Link can have commercial repercussions. Last year
View. LG plans to launch the ThinQ View. In October, Google a 6-year-old Dallas girl was talking to Alexa
started selling its own version, the Home Hub, for $149, with a about cookies and dollhouses, and days later,
seven-inch screen. four pounds of cookies and a $170 dollhouse
In the long run, Google is betting that having a screen will were delivered to her family’s door. Amazon
make voice shopping easier. The search company doesn’t sell says Alexa has parental controls that, if used,
products directly like Amazon, but its Google Shopping site would have prevented the incident.
connects retailers to the Google search engine. Already it is Still, widespread adoption is likely be-
empowering the Google Home device as a shopping tool. It has cause of the growing convenience of a voice-
a partnership with Starbucks, for example, that enables a user to connected world. With more than 100 million
tell the Google Assistant to order “my usual,” and the order will of these devices already installed and in listen-
be ready upon arrival. Last year, Google cemented a partnership ing mode, it’s only a matter of time before
with Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. Shoppers can link voice becomes the dominant way humans and
their existing Walmart online account to Google’s shopping site machines communicate with each other—even
and simply ask Google Home to check whether a favorite pair of if the conversation involves little more than
running shoes is in stock, reserve a flat-screen TV for same-day scatological sounds and squeals of laughter.
pickup, or find the nearest Walmart store.
The rise of vision-recognition tech—voice recognition’s A.I. Brian Dumaine is the author of a forthcoming
sibling, long used for matching faces of criminals in a crowd— book on Amazon to be published by Scribner.

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