After years of violent squabbling, Google Assistant and Alexa are finally playing well together.
Harman today announced new additions to its JBL Authentics range of speakers that integrate both Google Assistant and Alexa – the first devices on the market to do so. The Authentics 200, Authentics 300 and Authentics 500, all of which feature automatic self-tuning, Bluetooth and multi-room operation, will be available starting September 17.
For years, Google has resisted enabling manufacturers — outside of Sonos, at least — to build smart devices that feature both Google Assistant and Alexa.
This has prompted Amazon to turn up the pressure, not necessarily out of a sense of altruism, but to level what it sees as an uneven playing field.
While Alexa has a respectable install base — about 500 million devices as of early this year — Google has long benefited from shipping Google Assistant as the default assistant on Android smartphones. (This was previously preferential treatment Theme (In an EU antitrust investigation.) In 2019, Google said Google Assistant was available on more than 1 billion devices.
So, in 2020, Amazon launched the Voice Interoperability Initiative, a program aimed at ensuring that voice-enabled products like smart speakers, smartphones, and smart displays allow users to choose from multiple voice assistants. Google, along with Samsung and Apple, declined to join. But now the search giant is changing its tune.
Why? In an email interview, Marissa Chacko, Google Assistant’s director of product management, brushed off Amazon and Google’s disdainful history and seemed to say, in so many words, “Why not?”
“voice assistants “It has become part of our daily lives,” she said. “both of them Google Amazon wanted to make it easier for users to access any of these voice services at once… We are not trying to compensate for capability gaps, but rather give users the freedom to choose.
On the new JBL Authentics speakers, Google Assistant and Alexa will work interchangeably. Users will be able to ask Alexa to set a timer, for example, and when it rings, ask Google Assistant to stop it (and vice versa).
This is thanks to what Amazon calls Universal Device Commands (UDC), a functionality driven by Amazon’s multi-agent experience toolset, which grew out of the Voice Interoperability Initiative. Using UDC, a user can ask Alexa and Google Assistant to stop certain tasks — such as music, timers, reminders, and alarms — without having to remember which assistant initiated the request or request that the request be handed over to the other assistant.
And perhaps just as important, the assistants won’t try to talk over each other. Authentication speakers will automatically change “voice focus” at the right moment to prevent Alexa, for example, from speaking through the Google Assistant timer.
Amazon and Google are testing UDC during beta trials, Aaron Robinson, vice president of Alexa, told me via email.
“Customers may prefer access to Alexa or Google Assistant to use their favorite Amazon and Google services,” he said. “You can ask Google Assistant for a good milk substitute, then ask Alexa to buy it from Amazon.com. Or get an Amazon package delivery notification from Alexa, then ask Google Assistant to add a delivery reminder to your Google Calendar.”
But aren’t Google and Amazon worried about having to deal with Google Assistant or Alexa struggling now that both assistants are on one device? Apparently, no. In a marked change in tone, Robinson and Chacko say they view the assistants as “complements” rather than competitors with each other.
“While we of course want to increase engagement with Alexa, the focus of this integration is to create a great customer experience where customers have seamless access to both “Aides,” Robinson said. “We fully expect customers to use Alexa and… Google assistant Alone or side-by-side on the JBL Authentics 200, 300 and 500 speakers.
“We believe in creating a strong smart home ecosystem, and ultimately want to make it easier for people to access what they love,” added Chacko. Assistants… We know that many households have mixed preferences for voice assistant and multiple devices, which can be difficult to manage. Together with Amazon and Harman, we had a shared vision for this integration to provide users with value and choice by providing simultaneous access to multiple voice assistants on a single device.
But there is an important subtext.
Smart speaker sales have been declining for some time. The shipments were under 30% in the first quarter of 2023, which is the sixth consecutive quarterly decline. And according to According to a survey conducted by UpCity, a business-to-business directory, only half of American consumers use voice search daily.
The risks are simply lower than they used to be — especially with Amazon and Google scaling back their voice assistant efforts internally.
It was Amazon It said On track to lose about $10 billion on Alexa and other devices in 2022 alone. And Google has it Condensed It has invested in Google Assistant for both third-party devices and its own suite of devices recently strip Third-party games and audio apps from Nest Hub smart displays.
Declining sales are likely not the only reason that can be blamed for the company’s shifting priorities. As it turns out, it’s hard to make money using voice assistants. Amazon is He said It raised less than $2 million from Alexa apps in 2019, well short of the company’s $5 million goal.
But whatever the case, the collaboration between Harman and Amazon may end up being a one-time event. Chacko won’t commit to future Google Assistant and Alexa integrations, which means it will depend on how this is received.
“It is too early to determine the impact of this integration,” she said. “Although we don’t have any plans to share about future integrations, we are excited to see how… [users] Benefit from simultaneous access to both Google Assistant and Alexa at home.
In other words, it is a temporary alliance, not a permanent truce.